Gibsons council has voted to give pre-budget approval for a series of infrastructure projects, including a $60,000 transfer from reserves for renovations to the Town-owned building at 494 South Fletcher Rd., beside Town Hall.
The lower floor of the building used to be the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) offices, and chief administrative officer Emanuel Machado told council Jan. 28 that work to get that space ready for new tenants, including the Sunshine Coast Regional Economic Development Organization (SCREDO) and Sunshine Coast Tourism’s Visitor Information Centre (VIC), has been slowed down because of flood damage.
SCREDO moved into its part of the space last December, and Machado said getting more funding released pre-budget is essential in order to get repairs done in time for the VIC to move out of its current location at Pioneer Park in Gibsons Landing at the end of March.
“In the meantime, the Visitor Information Centre is really not in the best location we have. The bathrooms often don’t work, they’re not accessible, and that building is beyond its useful life,” Machado said.
The work still to be done includes laying new floors, installing new ceiling tiles and adding a fully accessible public washroom.
Machado said another budget item that will be coming forward related to 494 South Fletcher is converting the rest of the former VCH space for use as the Town archives.
The other projects to get pre-budget approval all involve sewer and water main work, including $215,000 for sewer line replacement on Gibsons Way.
Director of infrastructure services Dave Newman told council that his department needs the money released before the final budget is approved so the work can be coordinated with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s plan to repave both North Road and Gibsons Way, which are part of Highway 101.
“In order for us to avoid cutting new pavement to put in infrastructure, which is always frowned upon, we need to get a couple of sewer projects in the ground… We need to get design done, [the project] tendered and constructed prior to the ministry doing the paving,” Newman said, adding that the paving could start as early as April.
The pre-budget approvals also included the authority to sole source some of the work instead of going through open bids.
