Powell River Regional District’s committee of the whole is recommending spending up to $60,000 for widening on Padgett Road.
The expenditure, which requires regional board sanction, is the third phase of the bike and footpath project on Padgett Road and would stretch between Gunther and Daisy Roads.
The original recommendation before the committee was to allocate an additional $60,000 from Community Works funds to this third phase of the project to address initial estimates of budget shortfall.
At the Thursday, June 11 committee of the whole meeting, Stan Gisborne, Electoral Area B director, in whose area Padgett Road sits, said he wanted to amend the motion, which commits $60,000 to the project. He wanted the motion to read to allocate up to an additional $60,000.
“We don’t need $60,000,” he said. “This motion, the way it is worded, is committing $60,000.”
The motion carried and will be sent to the regional board for approval.
According to a report from Mike Wall, manager of community services, the second phase was successfully completed in late summer 2014. In reviewing the project, the ministry of transportation and infrastructure (MOTI) representative and MOTI contractor both identified that the proposed road widening project is to go ahead as previous phases, including a 1.5 metre widening for bike and pedestrian use on the northeast side of Padgett Road.
Wall added that the project would improve safety on Padgett Road by also improving lane width.
