The Laurel Street works yard has moved closer to getting a face lift.
At Monday night’s meeting, city council approved $15.2 million in gaming funds to go toward the construction of Phase 1 of the project.
Redevelopment of the site will occur in two stages. The first phase, expected to last eight months, will see a yard building go up, while the second phase, 36 months in total, will see the main building built.
“This phased approach will allow the works yard to continue to function during construction,” reads a staff report. “The city’s fleet repair garage, machine shop, mower shop, paint shop, plumbing/carpentry shop, welding shop, engineering dispatch and stores functions will all remain on site.”
Part of the project also includes a new fuel station, according to the report.
The entire makeover, funded entirely with gaming funds (money the city receives from Grand Villa Casino), will cost $76 million, according to preliminary numbers.
The city also redeveloped the Still Creek works yard in 2014. At the time, sanitation, parks operations and the sign shop were moved from the Laurel Street yard to Still Creek to allow for the redevelopment of the Laurel Street yard.
The Laurel Street yard has been the primary city works yard since 1954 and is “extremely cramped,” Basil Luksun, Burnaby’s former director of planning and building, said during a 2011 interview with the NOW, when yard plans were being developed.
At Monday’s meeting, Coun. Colleen Jordan noted once the Laurel Street yard is finished, staff want to bring some of the work the city has contracted out back in-house.
“Such as road maintenance and electrical work. ... And because of that, have better service to our community.”
Mayor Derek Corrigan said “it’s exciting to be able to see all that transition.”
“The eventual direction is to have the most modern facilities of any city in the Lower Mainland, and to ensure we’re the most efficient organization we can be,” he told council. “We’re very lucky that we have the capital to be able to invest in ensuring that we can do all of this, and that we don’t have a huge impact on our taxes as a result of it.”
What’s in Phase 1 of the works yard project?
The yard building will be located in the southwest corner of the site.
It will include: covered parking spaces for dump trucks (and their associated plows); hoists to hang the salters/sanders directly above the parking spaces; and more storage capacity for salt.
The facility will also have three wash bays for cleaning large industrial equipment.
Since the yard building is in close proximity to residential homes, part of the roof will be covered with a “green roof,” featuring drought-tolerant, low-profile grasses and sedums.
– Source: City of Burnaby
