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Public Works Yard Update (Nanaimo Operations Centre)

*** UPDATE - July 23, 2024 ***

At a Regular Council meeting held on July 22, 2024, City Council directed staff to prepare a borrowing bylaw for the Public Works Yard project.

On June 24, 2024, staff presented options for Council to consider which resulted in Council directing staff to proceed with the ‘Highest Needs in Single Phase’ option for the Public Works Yard project, which would see the highest need and highest cost elements of the plan completed in a single phase of work (the fleet maintenance and administration buildings, along with storm water management), leaving the rest of the improvements to the Public Works Yard to be completed over time through capital project planning.

This page will be updated regularly.

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Mission Statement

To address the long-standing and increasingly unsustainable health, safety, environmental and operational shortcomings of the site in a fiscally responsible manner.

Highlights

Our current Public Works and Parks yards are well past their usable lifespan, and no longer suitable to serve our growing community. The original Public Works buildings were constructed in the 1960's and then evolved as the City population grew from less than 45,000 in 1980. The City of Nanaimo is now 100,000 people strong and growing.

City operations are currently provided at the Public Works Yard on Labieux Road, the Parks Operations Yard on Prideaux Street and the Nanaimo Lakes Road Parks satellite yard.

The original Public Works buildings were constructed in the 1960’s and then evolved as the City population grew from less than 45,000 in 1980 to over 100,000 in 2021. Much of the additional space was added using modular temporary facilities, not intended for permanent use. The original buildings and additions have exceeded their useful life and are costing a considerable amount to sustain them.

Public Works Yard 1960's:
Approximate Community Population 30,000
Approximate City Population 14,135

Public Works Yard 2023:
 Approximate Community Population 107,000

The Public Works facilities have exceeded staff capacity and considerable efforts have been made to accommodate increasing needs by converting unsuitable spaces or adding additional trailer units to create working room. The overall result is a facility that struggles or fails to meet existing operational needs, environmental regulations, as well as building code or accessibility and gender equity considerations.

With the population of Nanaimo expected to be in the range of 126,000-141,000 in 25 years, there will be a substantial increase in the demand for services that cannot feasibly be met with the existing facility.

Contact Information

By email: EngineeringInfo@nanaimo.ca
By mail: City of Nanaimo, Engineering Department, 455 Wallace Street, Nanaimo BC, V9R 5J6
By phone: 250-755-4460, Ext 4230

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