Council clears first hurdle for Nanaimo Operations Centre project

Alternative Approval Process for project borrowing expected to begin in September

NEWS RELEASE - Distributed June 26, 2023 9:00 AM

Summary

At their June 19, 2023 meeting, Nanaimo City Council passed three readings of the borrowing bylaw for the first phase of the Nanaimo Operations Centre project. The Nanaimo Operations Centre Phase One Borrowing Bylaw 2023 No. 7362 will now be sent to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for review and approval by the Inspector of Municipalities. If approved, the City will be able to begin an Alternative Approval Process (AAP) to borrow up to $48.5 million for the project's first phase.

The Nanaimo Operations Centre project will see the eventual replacement of the aging public works facility and consolidation of the public works and parks operations into one location over a number of phases. Among a number of improvements, the first phase includes:

replacing the existing fleet and maintance facility, a truck wash and a dump facility as well as site servicing for future phases of the project
replacing storm water management facilities onsite as well as a building a stormwater rentention pond in Beban Park at the corner of Dorman and Labieux Rd
retrofitting the training tower located at Fire Station 2
building a multi-use pathway along the Labieux Rd side of Beban Park

Once approval is received from the Province, the City will begin the AAP on Sept. 27 and it will run until Nov. 3, 2023.

More information on the AAP will be released in the coming months. To stay up to date, visit the www.nanaimo.ca/goto/AAP. Learn more about the Nanaimo Operations Centre project at www.nanaimo.ca/goto/NOC.

Link to Strategic Plan: Rebuilding Fire Station #1 supports Public Safety and Asset Management.

Key Points

The Nanaimo Operations Centre Phase One Borrowing Bylaw 2023 No. 7362 is the first in this project consisting of four phases over a number of years to replace and consolidate public works and parks operations onto one site.
Approval by the Inspector of Municipalities must be obtained prior to a local government proceeding to Alternative Approval Process. If approved, the AAP is expected to begin on Sept. 27 and run for approximately one month.
If 10% or more of eligible voters submit an Alternative Approval Process form in opposition, the borrowing bylaw will be brought back to Council to determine if Council would like to proceed with the matter and next steps.

Quotes

"Municipalities are required to obtain approval from the Inspector of Municipalities to begin an Alternative Approval Process. This process typically takes six to eight weeks to complete. If approved, we have chosen to start the AAP on Sept. 27 in order to avoid the busy summer months when electors may be away."

Sheila Gurrie

Director, Legislative Services

City of Nanaimo

Quick Facts

Public works and parks operations are currently housed at the public works yard on Labieux Rd, the parks operations yard on Prideaux St and the parks satellite yard on Nanaimo Lakes Rd. These facilities are no longer able to fully meet the City's operational needs.
The original public works buildings were constructed in the 1960s and evolved as the City population grew from less than 45,000 in 1980 to more than 100,000 in 2021.
The entire public works yard consists of 6 hectares (14.8 acres) of land.
Councils most commonly use an AAP to gauge public opinion - it is a less expensive option than using Assent Voting (also known as a Referendum) and can be used whenever the legislation requires the City to obtain permission from the electors.

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Contact:

For media enquiries, please contact:

Communications

City of Nanaimo

250-754-4251

Media.Requests@nanaimo.ca

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