Penticton's parks and recreation advisory committee (PRAC) has turned down a staff recommendation to replace the Kiwanis Pier on Okanagan Lake at only one-quarter its current length.
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Instead, the committee voted in favour of replacing the existing Kiwanis pier at its full length of 70 metres. They did, however, reject an option to enhance landscaping and amenity upgrades near the pier, which were pegged at just under $700,000.
The Kiwanis Pier has reached its expected 鈥渆nd of life鈥 and needs to be either removed or replaced in some capacity as soon as possible, said a staff report discussed by the PRAC Wednesday morning.
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The option to replace the current Kiwanis Pier at one quarter its length or 17.5 metres would have cost roughly $170,000 in construction costs, rather than $670,000 to replace the entire 70-metre pier.
The PRAC opted to spend an additional $217,000 for a multi-use path leading to the pier, but rejected landscaping and amenity upgrades at just under $700,000.
The total cost for the preferred option the PRAC will be presenting to Penticton council is $1,082,000, compared to $530,000 for the quarter-sized pier at 17 metres in length.
The total cost to replace the pier at its current length and add numerous landscaping and amenity upgrades was $1.75 million.
A staff report to Penticton council suggested that the 2025 budget for the Kiwanis Pier project be reduced to $600,000, with the corresponding scope reduction outlined in the report.
Coun. Isaac Gilbert, councilsa国际传媒 appointee to the PRAC who observes meetings, but doesn鈥檛 have voting privileges, said the committee didn鈥檛 have much interest in building a new, much shorter pier.
鈥淭he decision from the PRAC that will be forwarded to council was to go forward with Option 3, which was keeping the full length of the pier, but replacing it with reduced scope on landscaping and amenities,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t was a unanimous decision following a very good discussion. They looked at all four options they had presented to them before making a final decision.鈥
This pier is iconic in Penticton and the committee didn鈥檛 have a lot of interest in the staff recommendation of rebuilding a pier only 25 per cent of its current length, he said.
Committee members were unanimous in wanting to maintain the current length of the pier, but were much more flexible when it came to significantly cutting costs by reducing landscaping and amenity costs, he said.
The PRAC decision will now be forwarded to Penticton council, who will ultimately decide the length and costs of the new pier in the near future, said Gilbert.
Considering the pier is on its last legs, the committee is hopeful council will approve their recommendation and move forward with the option to rebuild the full length of Kiwanis Pier, hopefully in early spring, he said.
鈥淐ouncil will now review this and make the final decision to go with the committee suggested or another route,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t will appear before council very soon and we will review and debate it before a final decision is made.鈥
The 70-metre walking pier on Okanagan Lake opened in 1984 and was paid for by the Kiwanis Club at a cost of $45,000.
鈥淭he pier has been used as an extended access out of over the lake to view the surrounding area and shoreline for residents, visitors, fishing, wedding parties, events and photographers since implementation,鈥 said the staff report. 鈥淭he pier suffered substantial damage from high lake water levels in 2017 with significant repairs undertaken in 2017 and 2018. An annual engineering inspection report has been needed over the last several years due to the condition of the pier.鈥
In 2023, a report required $45,000 worth of immediate repairs that were completed to keep the pier in place until more permanent plans or options were identified.
The annual engineering inspection report in October determined that an additional $50,000 of repairs would be needed to keep the pier operational beyond the planned construction of Spring of 2025, however, these works have not been actioned in anticipation of the planned renewal.
The citysa国际传媒 2024-2028 approved financial plan included $200,000 in 2024 for design and permitting, and $1.8 million in 2025 for replacement of the pier, the surrounding landscape, and improved accessibility and amenities to be funded from the Growing Communities Reserve.
In 2024 staff began the design process, with the overall objective of replacing the pier, but with enhanced height (off the water) to make it more resilient to high water levels.
Staff have also been working through the environmental permitting process, working within the original overall footprint, as any deviations from the existing footprint would complicate and extend the permitting process significantly, said the staff report.
As staff worked through the design process for this project, cost escalation due to increasing materials, supplies and labour costs or other capital projects was becoming more and more prominent.
The actual cost to deliver the approved capital plan, most notably through 2024, has been much higher than when the plan was prepared and approved, said the staff report.
听While the city had allocated some of the Growing Communities Funding provided by the province to help bridge some of these inflationary funding gaps, that allocation was depleted this fall, with many 2024 projects still not awarded and/or completed, said the staff report.
鈥淭his trend is expected to continue into 2025 as well,鈥 said the report
As a result, on October 15,staff recommended and council supported that an additional $1.6M of funding be allocated from the Growing Communities Fund, redirected from the North Gateway allocation (for projects not yet determined) to the inflationary allocation.
Staff noted that a full review of all capital projects was being conducted to prioritize remaining projects and to explore further opportunities to maximize the funding available to ensure the city can deliver the approved capital program over the next several years as budget and actual costs re-stabilize.
Through this review process, staff identified that the Kiwanis Pier was still in the design process, had a large degree of flexibility for the design of the asset, and was, therefore, worth reconsidering the scope and budget for the project.
Staff recommended the option to rebuild the pier at only 70 metres in length, which would reduce the pier size to roughly a quarter of its current size, as well as a reduction in the scope of the site improvements to facilitate the higher-level pier and to improve the accessibility to the pier, but removing the landscaping and amenity upgrades.
鈥淭his design option would preserve the intent of the pier for viewing, fishing at a substantially lower cost,鈥 said the staff report.
鈥淭he citysa国际传媒 Infrastructure and facilities assets are aging with many coming up for replacement in the coming years. Reducing the size of the pier project would also decrease the operational maintenance costs and lower the potential replacement costs in the future.
鈥淥ption 1 would support a reduction to the project budget by roughly two-thirds, and would allow further funding to be available to support other projects over the coming years.鈥
By reducing the pier to roughly a quarter of its size, the 2025 budget can be reduced to $600,000, said the report.
鈥淕iven the current approved project budget of $1.8M for 2025, this would allow $1.2M to be reallocated to the inflationary allotment, to support approved capital projects through to completion over the next few years as budgets and actual costs stabilize,鈥 said the report.
While the City has budgeted for the full replacement of 鈥渓ike for like,鈥 a reduction to the proposed scope is being recommended to provide more financial flexibility to deliver the approved capital program over the next few years, or any other council or community strategic capital projects that may require funding.
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