City of Victoria updates timeline on Johnson Street Bridge

It’s Happening

At its next Council meeting, on Thursday, August 27th, the City of Victoria will introduce a bylaw to borrow $63-million to finance the replacement of the Johnson Street Bridge.

I learned that this morning by speaking with Don Schaffer, the City’s manager of legislative services. His department is drafting the bylaw, so that it will undergo first reading on the 27th. Then, he explained, there will be a 30-day period to secure approval for the loan through the Capital Regional District, which is the only body that has the authority to ask for such a large sum for a capital project. If the CRD’s approval is obtained, the bylaw will go back to the Council for final reading, presumably at a Council meeting at the end of September. Once the Council gives the bylaw final approval, that would trigger the 30-day counter-petition process. If a counter-petition fails to get enough signatures, then the City would be on track to start construction of a new bridge in November as planned.

In other words, it appears the City is getting ready to proceed with replacing the Blue Bridge, regardless of whether or not federal-provincial infrastructure funds are granted to the project. If the City is turned down for those funds, the Council could amend — or even scrap — the borrowing bylaw in mid-September. But I guess we’ll all cross that bridge when we come to it.

That was not the only thing that happened at City Hall this morning. The City’s governance and priorities committee — effectively, the full council — also received an update regarding the bridge replacement project from Peter Sparanese (director of engineering), Mike Lai (assistant director of transportation and parking services), and Katie Josephson (director of communications). The PowerPoint of their presentation can be downloaded here. The following are my notes from the presentation:

Peter Sparanese and Mike Lai reviewed the history of the bridge project to date. New details: the city retained Stantec’s Jacques Whitford as the permits and approvals consultant, to get the archeological and fisheries permits for a new bridge. The MMM Group will oversee project management, architecture, landscaping, engineering, and procurement of the Design-Build contractor for the project.

The seven-member Citizens’ Advisory Committee (CAC; press release listing its members here) met on July 24 and 31 to get their terms of reference. On August 4 they walked around the existing bridge with staff. On August 6 they held the first design charrette for a new bridge, accompanied by a technical committee from MMM that educated them on Bridge Design 101.

Then Sparanese and Lai laid out a proposed schedule of coming events:

August 24: CAC holds its second design charrette, to review three bridge designs currently being prepared by MMM’s technical committee.
August 25: Council holds a closed meeting to discuss the disposition of city lands around the bridge.
September 8: The final three designs selected by the CAC are presented to Council, followed by a public release and Public Engagement Plan.
September 24: Council selects the final bridge concept, for inclusion in the Request For Proposal for the Design-Build contractor.

Katie Josephson spoke about the Public Engagement Plan, to run September 8-24. The plan, which she described as “exhaustive”, will:

- build on the existing committee of citizen advisors
- include an open house at City Hall, and a storefront project office with displays of the proposed designs
- include a direct mailout of information about the project through the City’s “Connect” newsletter
- use a dedicated website (www.johnsonstreetbridge.com, to be launched this coming Monday), phone line, email address, and Facebook group

Mayor Dean Fortin likened the Plan to an intensive university course: sometimes public consultation happens over an entire term, but in this case it will happen over three weeks. He urged all the councillors to talk about the project at every opportunity. September, he said, will be “full-on busy.”

Councillor Geoff Young asked whether the Plan really will involve public consultation, or whether it’s just dissemination of information (i.e. the City telling the public what it’s doing, with no effective feedback). Josephson replied that it was an “awareness exercise”. Young asked if the public would have input on the design. Fortin said yes, it would.

Councillor Lynn Hunter asked whether there have been any indications from the federal government about stimulus funding for the project. Assistant city manager Mike McCliggott advised that federal infrastructure minister John Baird has instructed his staff to “fast-track” their decision. “We all have our fingers crossed,” said McCliggott.

Councillor Phillippe Lucas asked for further details about the methods for the public to provide feedback. Josephson admitted that traditional tools haven’t been sufficient. A direct email address, johnsonstreetbridge@victoria.ca, will be created.

Mayor Fortin expressed his confidence in the members of the Citizens’ Advisory Committee.

The councillors then moved on to discuss 150 pages of materials regarding a new Official Community Plan. As time dragged on, Councillor Sonya Chandler expressed frustration with how the process of public engagement on the OCP had dragged on – in comparison to the CAC selected for the bridge project. “We hand-picked them, they’re engaged, they’re getting things done.”

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