There were no injuries or equipment damage as a result of a sinkhole around a metre in depth that emerged in the transit parking area at the Mason Road works yard, in West Sechelt, on Sunday, July 13, according to a Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) staff report.
The document outlined that when staff arrived for work the following morning, adjacent grounds appeared “visually depressed” in an area encompassing about 11 bus parking stalls. Equipment was moved to a temporary alternate parking location and the area was immediately closed.
On July 24, the Sunshine Coast Regional District board approved spending up to $330,000 to repair the site, after receiving a report about the damage at a committee meeting earlier that day.
The cause and repair plan
An excavator was brought on-site and three test holes in the affected area were dug for geotechnical assessment, said the report.
“Within the test piles, logs, stumps and boulders surrounded by granular fill was observed. When the site was originally filled, it is likely that materials available from an adjacent logging operation were used. It appears that when the logs, stumps and boulders were placed, a significant number of voids were left surrounding these materials. Over time, the asphalt failed, and the voids presented the sink hole and visually sinking of the ground,” the assessment stated.
It recommended the area be back-filled. The staff report detailed that with spending approval granted, “staff will proceed with getting the necessary resources in place to complete the work as soon as possible."
The approved budget does not include returning the parking lot’s asphalt surface or conducting ground-penetrating radar throughout the yards to attempt to identify other areas on the site that may also be affected by voids, as recommended by the geotechnical contractor. The staff report noted a proposal for those components will be developed for consideration in the 2026 budget.
Sechelt director Alton Toth commented in the committee debate on the matter that he was “not thrilled with the cost of $330,000… it’s a lot of money that we weren’t planning to spend."
Additional downsides from the incident, according to the staff report, are complications for transit operations. “Unfortunately, the efficiency of the yard's operations, in particular Transit, has been impacted, and although the temporary parking arrangements work, there are safety concerns if this is to remain in place for an extended period of time (challenges with site circulation, reduced sight lines and turning radius for the buses)."
The SCRD began leasing the site from the province in 1962. It is currently on a month-to-month lease, as the local government contemplates how best to accommodate the growing needs for both transit and work yard capacity.
