The city is paving the way for possible construction of a long contemplated yet controversial underpass in Salmon Arm.
An arrangement has been reached for the city to lease two properties north of the CP railway tracks that could accommodate the construction of the Ross Street underpass, says Carl Bannister, the city’s chief administrative officer.
The properties, which cover about three-quarters of an acre at 621 and 641 Ross St., just west of Gibbons Motor Toys, would be used for parking and for “other public purposes including as a potential staging area for construction of the Ross Street underpass,” Bannister told the Observer Friday.
“If an underpass gets built, the city will have the property available for the contractor to set up all their equipment and offices, that sort of thing.”
The city will lease the two properties for 10 years for $33,000 per year.
“It’s not really to do with construction of the underpass per se, but I guess it’s a step in that direction,” Bannister said.
In addition to the lease lots, the city is acquiring a 20-metre strip of land at the east end of the Shuswap Park Mall’s liquor store parking lot, next to the former CP Rail station. It’s directly across from Ross Street, where the road terminates at the three-way intersection.
The city is also acquiring five-metre construction rights of way from the lease lots as well as from the liquor store parking lot. Bannister said the city has also acquired other strips of land over the past seven years needed for the project.
As for the two lease lots, “the city may develop and rent them out as parking in the short term,” Bannister said. “Other potential uses might be tourism kiosks or entry signage for the downtown and waterfront. So that’s the first part of it.”
He’s pleased with the arrangement.
“I think this is a very good deal for the city and it allows the city to acquire, in the short term, road dedication that’s needed for the underpass and, potentially in the short or medium term, land that will be needed to facilitate its construction.”
The underpass is in the city’s newly drafted strategic plan, under short-term projects, and in the official community plan as well as in the long-term financial plan for 2015.
Bannister says he estimates it would be a $7- to $9-million project – and one of the next steps for the city would be to have a final engineering design and tender costs.
Funding, he said, “would probably be a combination of long-term borrowing and grants...”
The long-term borrowing, Bannister noted, would require an alternate approval process or referendum.
Council will consider the leasing of the lots and related issues at its next council meeting.
Asked about the lots being leased, Mayor Nancy Cooper wrote in an email: “The Ross Street underpass has been part of the city’s future plans for years. So we are working towards this goal and acquiring the road dedication and needed property is just the beginning of the process. We will keep the public informed every step of the way.”