City of Powell River’s sea walk reconstruction project is expected to begin in the fall of this year.
At the June 4 city committee of the whole meeting, director of infrastructure Tor Birtig said back in 2022, a storm surge that coincided with a king tide resulted in significant damage to the sea walk.
“Staff have since brought the trail to a rough but usable standard by applying crushed rock to smooth out the walking surface and dealing with major obstacles,” said Birtig. “We brought on Balanced Environmental Services to provide environmental services related to the preliminary design and regulatory approval of proposed shoreline enhancement work. Subsequently, we engaged with Aquila Archaeology to prepare an archeological review in accordance with the Heritage Conservation Act.
“Aquila currently holds a multi-assessment permit that is in effect until the end of 2025. We recently had an extension on that permit. This allows the city to maintain infrastructure while archaeological studies take place. The permit provides delegated authority to Aquila to approve works on behalf of the province to meet the requirements of the Heritage Conservation Act.”
Birtig said the initial review completed by Aquila did not identify any impacts to known archaeology.
“Since that time, we have mapped out the entire sea walk and I have identified areas of concern,” said Birtig. “The next step is to put out a final design, construction tender package and project management work through a public tender process. The successful bidder will prepare the final design to rectify geotechnical slope stability concerns, as well as address any environmental and fisheries consideration.
“Once that is completed, a notice of intent will be sent to Tla’amin Nation and the archaeology branch, prior to the commencement of the work. That work will be put through a public tender process in June of this year, with construction beginning in September, with a projected completion date of the fall of 2024.”
City councillor Jim Palm said the project started with a budget of $800,000, and after the work that has been done on the project, the figure is down to $762,000. Palm asked if that was going to be enough to complete the project.
Birtig said that figure is deemed adequate, but the final straw will be once the prices come in from the bidders.
Councillor and committee chair George Doubt said the schedule seems to be accelerating quickly.
“There’s a lot of things to do so I hope you can stick to the timelines and get construction going in September,” said Doubt.
Birtig said the city was on the project aggressively and understands the importance of the sea walk to the residents.
During question period at the meeting, the Peak asked if the design for the sea walk would include heightening or other measures to ensure it is not affected by future weather events.
Birtig said the final design will look at design elements such as raising the sea walk or a buffer along the top edge to prevent recurrence.
“That will come through the final design when we are working with the marine/geotechnical consultant,” added Birtig.
When asked about closure of the sea walk during construction, Birtig said the city is anticipating closures of portions of the pathway.
“It may be sections of the sea walk that are closed at a time,” said Birtig.
He could not anticipate at this time what the duration of construction would be.
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