Colliery Dams Update - April 27/15

The special open council meeting which convened at 4:30 pm in advance of the regularly scheduled COW meeting only had one item on the agenda. This one item consumed nearly three hours of this council's time and basically put the stamp of approval on the staff recommendation.

Nearing the end of the three hour exercise Councillor Pratt said she was confused, but later voted on the issue before council in the affirmative.

The staff recommendation which council finally approved was:

That Council direct staff to: 

1. Request that the Comptroller of Water Rights amend his Order of 2015-APR-09 to allow the City additional time to explore a third remediation option for the Colliery Dams as follows:

(a) submit selected remediation option to the Comptroller by 2015-JUN-01; 
(b) prepare and submit a design report and construction plans for approval under Section 4 of the BC Dam Safety Regulation by 2015-JUN-22; and 
(c) substantially complete chosen remediation by 2015-NOV-15. 

2. Explore a third remediation option that includes hardening the downstream embankment of the Lower Dam and improvements to the Lower Dam as noted in the design presented to Council on 2015-APR-13 (Attachment A). Undertake no upgrades to the Middle Dam at this time. 

3. Engage engineering consultants (Golder Associates, Herold Engineering, GeoStabilization International and/or others) to assist the City in the preparation of engineering designs, costs and timelines to review the remediation options. 

4. Allocate up to $400,000 to undertake work required, up to preparation of tendering contracts to meet timelines noted in 1 above.