A year and a half after a windstorm swept through Burnaby, downing trees and leaving about 50,000 residents without power, the city is looking at installing an emergency power supply at some of its buildings.
At Monday night’s meeting, city council approved a $250,000 feasibility study. The study will look at implementing the first phase of a new emergency power supply program. The first phase considers installing backup power at the Edmonds and Bonsor community centres.
“During power outages, emergency backup power would allow key city facilities to provide continued public access, service provision and, if necessary, places of respite for residents impacted by extended power outages,” reads a staff report.
Phase 1 also suggests the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts as another building.
“(It) would be the most suitable facility to equip with emergency power supply based on its site configuration, including parking, dry floor space and on-site amenities,” according to the report.
The extra power would boost the city’s capacity to deliver emergency support services (ESS) following an emergency or disaster, by increasing the number of facilities capable of supporting ESS operations in areas where hydro was interrupted, states the report.
The feasibility study will: assess the existing building conditions to determine site limitations and considerations at each site; identify the improvements and/or major renovations required to the interior and exterior of each building; determine the cost and siting considerations (electrical, mechanical, structural and architectural) of installing/upgrading an emergency back-up power supply; determine the degree of disruptiveness during construction; provide a preliminary cost estimate; and provide a preliminary design concept.
At the council meeting, Mayor Derek Corrigan acknowledged the hefty price tag of the study and said staff will “carefully manage” this file so taxpayers’ dollars are not wasted.
“If we’re going to move to the next level, it’s because we’ve already determined conceptually this is likely to be successful and it’s worth spending the money,” he said.
Corrigan was assured by city staff the hired contractor will do a preliminary review of the three facilities to determine whether they’re suited for an emergency power supply.
The second phase of the project would consider installing backup generators at the new community centre planned for the Brentwood Town Centre and for the replacement of the Cameron Community Centre.
The city is now preparing a request for proposal for the feasibility study.
