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| One of a number of property lots that the City o Prince Rupert owned and put up for sale last year (From City of PR notice) |
With a large volume of Budget Requests to work our way through from the extensive documentation offered up on Budget release night last week, residents who have an interest in how the City is crafting it's 2023 Budget may have missed an item of some interest.
That of the City looking to dedicate some of the budget ahead towards land purchases for future use.
The item of Capital Spending isn't particularly high, with a request to use just 50,000 dollars from Reserve/Surplus towards the City's strategic purchases.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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| The work site appears to be expanding on the First Avenue Waterline project contractors began work on the waterline issues in December as part of the City's Local State of Emergency |
Contractors are approaching their work from atop the bluffs on First Avenue East and below from the Cow Bay Parking lot, the job one that seems to be more extensive now than just a repair to a waterline.
The First Avenue East site and another area of extensive work on Crestview Drive continue to be closed to through traffic as the work continues, the once daily updates of December now delivered on a more relaxed timeline, if they come at all.
When it comes to these two projects of the longest duration, there hasn't been any information since the December Emergency came to an end for Council from Operations, nor have the City Council member asked any questions of their own.
The current state of First and Crestview is just a preview of what the next few years are going to look like for many of the city's streets.
As we outlined on St. Patrick's Day, Premier David Eby came to town with his own personal Pot of Gold for the community, that by way of a 65 million dollar announcement of funding for the city's waterline woes.
Much needed, but yet not surprisingly, that amount is nowhere near enough to address decades of kicking the infrastructure can down the road amidst some financial challenges for the City and a direction of funding that was in hand, that went towards towards other priorities for Council.
At the end of the March 20th Council Session, Mayor Herb Pond paid thanks to the province for the funding, observing for residents that the next few years will be those of work to "Renovate Rupert".
To this point however, the city hasn't identified any of their priority list of 26 kilometres high risk areas of concern for the public that they plan to address first.
More notes on Major Projects can be reviewed here, items of interest from the Operations Department can be explored here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
“British Columbians who are forced to evacuate their homes often rely on provincially funded emergency support services that are delivered in partnership with First Nations and local governments. This funding will help communities build up capacity to better deliver these supports to people during very stressful situations as we continue modernizing and improving ESS.” -- Bowinn Ma, Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness.
On Haida Gwaii, the community of Daajing Giids will receive $29,965 to be put towards ESS Storage and Supplies
North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice noted yesterday as to how the funding comes during more frequent climate related issues.
“As we see more frequent climate-related emergencies, it’s important that residents of the North Coast know they can access emergency support services should they need it. As the former Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Preparedness, I know this funding is crucial to our communities. Our BC NDP government is taking the steps to be prepared for any type of emergency”
Other communities across the Northwest to receive funding from this funding distribution include:
Bulkley Nechako Regional District -- (Houston, Granisle) -- $89,238.46
(Regional ESS Exercise and Equipment Acquisition)
Burns Lake -- $29,684
(ESS Team Development)
Kitselas First Nation -- $30,000
(Support Supply project)
Smithers - Regional, Telkwa -- $60,000
(Bulkley ESS Transport, Security and Volunteer Safety project)
You can review the announcement and full province-wide allocation here.
More notes from the British Columbia Legislature can be reviewed here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
The Northwest's Member of Parliament, Taylor Bachrach has been digging into the 2023 Federal Budget just like the rest of us and he's picked out a few items from Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's wide ranging document of some note.
The Skeena Bulkley Valley MP, used his social media feed to highlight both the NDP work towards ensuring that the Dental Care Plan gained some momentum from the Federal Liberals.
Mr. Bachrach also noted of the additional supports for air travellers from the Federal Budget, that a topic he's been making a high profile one through his work in the House of Commons.
While the NDP had some success in the 2023 Federal Financial planning document, there's been some lost momentum on a national Pharmacare initiative; something the NDP has been championing in the past and an area that we imagine they will be returning to the spotlight as the House moves forward this Spring.
More notes from the House of Commons can be reviewed here.
A recap on Budget 2023 themes from some of the nation's News services can be explored from our political blog D'Arcy McGee.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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| Just over 24 hours remain for Prince Rupert homeowners to pay their Utility bills with a discount available |
While many residents are perhaps occupied with a review of last week's Budget Presentation and since reduced proposed tax hike of 13.4% (down from the original 15.7% tax call) another tax concern is looming large for those that haven't been watching the calendar.
The City of Prince Rupert today reminded residents of the community that the 2023 Utility Taxes are due for payment by the end of business on Friday, after that your opportunity to take advantage of the discount will be gone.
As we noted earlier this year, the City of Prince Rupert Utility Taxation bills hit the mail in mid February, this year as has been the case in the recent past, bringing another slight increase to the goals for ratepayers for annual Water and Sewer fees.
The 2023 tax call from the City saw a slight decrease for Garbage/Recycling from 2022, that following last years launch of the Blue Tub program in the city.
Our notes from February, included a bit of a historical timeline towards the Utility Payment requests over the last eight years.
More notes on Taxation and Fees from the City is available here, while our evolving archive of Budget 2023 notes can be examined here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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| BC Hydro has a busy to do list ahead for the months ahead in Prince Rupert (image from BC Bid website RFP) |
With some of their largest bit of work locally in recent years completed this week. Work that made for a seven hour overnight blackout for Prince Rupert to allow for it, BC Hydro has a few more projects on the way for the community in the months to come.
An RFP posted to the BC Bid site outlines some of the projects that will be taking place around Prince Rupert, the document posted to the provincial listings notes of Underground work, Duct Bank installations and a 2 phase Voltage Conversion program.
The work will see Hydro employees and contractors working both below the surface and above it at locations found across the City and surrounding region.
The Voltage Conversion program includes replacement of a range of infrastructure across the city, with the documentation towards that work featuring a number of background maps an example of which is noted below:
Much of the work is set to be completed before the end of this coming summer.
The Deadline for submissions to the RFP is set for April 18th.
The full documentation for the work ahead can be reviewed from the BC Bid Website
More notes on BC Hydro in the Prince Rupert area can be reviewed here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
Those with tests to take, or samples to provide through the Labs at Prince Rupert Regional Hospital now have a new number to call to address all their scheduling needs.
The new initiative which is known as the Regional Lab Call Centre was introduced to the public on Wednesday, with Northern Health observing how it will make booking, cancelling or rescheduling a lab appointment easier for residents of the North Coast.
The update to services was shared through the Northern Health Facebook page that is dedicated towards Prince Rupert area topics.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
Yesterday we made note of some pothole repairs and street sweeping that has city crews at work around the city, as well as a Capital Request in the 2023 Budget for some road paving planning for the year ahead.
And should that paving program move forward, as it most likely will, the next step will be to put some lines down on the streets of Prince Rupert so motorists have a guide to lanes, crosswalks and such.
The City delivered its Request for Proposals to the BC Bid website for that work on Wednesday, outlining the scope of their expectations for the successful contractor that will gain the contract.
The Deadline for proposals is set for April 14th with contractors to deliver their submission to Mark Seidel at City Hall.
The Notice of Award will come in mid April, with the work to be completed by late September.
The documentation with BC Bid includes a number of maps of areas around the city that will see attention this year.
In past years, Yellowhead Pavement Marking from Prince George has been awarded the contract for the work, they appear to be the only company in the reach of the Northwest that offers the service.
The news of the work ahead will be welcomed by motorists, pedestrians and perhaps some of the more traffic aware deer who use city crosswalks.
Also likely to give a thank you to the Operations staff will be a few of the Council members who have raised the issue of the lack of line painting in some areas of the city over the last few years.
October 2021 -- Road marking concerns raised once again at City Council Session
March 2021 -- City Council members see red over white lines
March 2018 -- Councillor Cunningham seeks report on city's pavement marking program
More notes on the City's RFP can be reviewed from the BC Bid website.
A look at some of the past Bids and Contracts from the City can be explored here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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| Prince Rupert based CityWest is seeking CRTC funding for a proposed project towards Resiliency for Haida Gwaii ( map above from correspondence to District of Port Edward) |
Port Edward residents got a heads up on some future CityWest plans this month, with the Northwest Communication company providing some background to their plans to develop Broadband Internet infrastructure, with Haida Gwaii the subject of their focus.
The details of the plan were relayed earlier this month, that through a correspondence from Lee Brain, Vice President of Community and Stakeholder Relations for the City of Prince Rupert owned City West.
As Mr. Brain explains it to Port Edward officials:
CityWest is planning to propose the project Resiliency for Haida Gwaii, seeking funding from the CRTC's Broadband Fund.
If CityWest is selected for the the funding, the proposed project would provide a redundant subsea fibre link to Haida Gwaii as part of the Connect Coast network.
In addition to Haida Gwaii, the proposed link would also enhance resiliency for other north coast communities such as Kitkatla, Oona River, Lax Kw'alaams, Prince Rupert (and strengthen the entire highway 16 telecom corridor) by providing an alternative network path in the event of damage to Connected Coast between Oona River and Hartley Bay.
The background to the project was part of a request for a letter of support from Port Edward towards the proposed project
The full correspondence was included as part March 14th Agenda items for the District of Port Edward, you can review it below:
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| click on above items to enlarge |
