Work to replace Oak Bay sewer, storm pipes underway – Victoria News

Work to replace Oak Bay’s underground infrastructure continued on both the streets and the community hall this week as Oak Bay released a detailed statement for the proposed 8.05 percent tax hike.

The council will meet for its fourth budgetary discussion on March 12, focusing on the remaining capital projects.

It includes $ 7.6 million in 2020 to fund municipal assets such as buildings and roads, as well as the underground infrastructure mentioned above.

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– Travis Paterson (@TravisAPaterson) March 2, 2020

READ MORE: Development changes won’t cover Oak Bay’s impending infrastructure costs

It has been four years since Oak Bay Engineering officially recognized the replacement of sewer, water and stormwater drainage pipes as priorities that should be addressed as soon as possible, and work is currently ongoing. An Insituform crew work their way through Oak Bay, section by section, from manhole cover to manhole cover. Insituform installs a cured pipe in place, a trenchless process that uses a camera, robot, and lots of steam and hot water to install a new liner in the old pipes. The lining lasts 50 years and costs about a third of the cost of a conventional replacement.

Oak Bay is retrofitting around four kilometers of sewer pipes with trenchless lining this year.

In total, Oak Bay has around 100 kilometers of sanitary sewer pipes, 115 km of water pipes and 140 km of drainage.

“We have a combination of this trenchless (pipe lining) work and some conventional remediation work planned for the year,” said Dan Horan, Director of Engineering. “The pipe lining work currently cured in place will be approximately $ 850,000.”

ALSO READ: 2017: Aging infrastructure is a major concern for Oak Bay

In total, Oak Bay has planned approximately $ 820,000 in major storm sewer works and approximately $ 871,000 in major capital canals this year. It is a combination of 2020 funds and 2019 funds that have been carried over into this year.

“We have a pretty good idea of ​​the total cost of replacing sewer, water and storm [drainage]and we’ve broken it down to a dollar a year, ”said Mayor Kevin Murdoch. “We are trying to reach a point where we can fully finance all of our capital requirements over the long term.”

This amount is US $ 9.2 million per year for the renewal and maintenance of all community assets.

It started with a deficit of $ 5.6 million in 2017 to a deficit of just $ 1,660,000 in 2020. Before that, Oak Bay funded just 40 percent of the annual infrastructure replacement costs. That’s a good part of the budget increase, which is currently projected to be 8.05 percent (subject to approval), an average of $ 242 per year per household in Oak Bay.

The average tax increase for five years under the current plan is 4.94 percent.

“The problem with underfunding is you are spending more on repeated repairs rather than replacing the assets,” Murdoch said.

However, Oak Bay has four people at Public Works who focus at least some of their work on preventive maintenance, Murdoch added.

The Uplands sewer and drainage separation project (Uplands homes divert storm and sewage into the same lines) is another priority as it is required for the new $ 775 million sewage treatment project. Oak Bay has applied for a federal grant to cover the cost of the project, which aims to build approximately five kilometers of new storm drainage in the Uplands neighborhood. The existing 8.2 km of combined sewers and rainwater sewers will be converted into sanitary sewers.

Municipal asset exchange projects envisaged after the underground pipes are replaced include the roads and eventually the Oak Bay Fire Station. The 105-kilometer paved road network in Oak Bay is in decline, as demonstrated by the sinkhole on Lansdowne Road last month. The council is interested in the Oak Bay Fire Department’s proposal for temporary storage that could delay the replacement of the fire station.

The draft proposal for the 2020-2024 budget is now online at Oakbay.ca/budget.

and the council is soliciting feedback from the public by emailing [email protected].

[email protected]

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