North Shuswap Kicker March 2022

CSRD Looks for $350K Savings to Scotch Creek Water System

By Jo Anne Malpass

Because of the two-year delay in receiving formal notice of approval for its grant application to the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program for a water system in Scotch Creek, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District is looking for ways to save $350,000 for the project before it goes to a public assent process.

At its February Board meeting, the CSRD board approved accessing $60,000 plus taxes from the Electoral Area F Feasibility Study Fund for design and engineering services for the water system.

A staff report from Terry Langlois, Team Leader, Utilities says the application was made in February 2020 and formal notice of approval was received December 17, 2021. The application was made prior to COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting material costs and supply chain issues have affected the estimated project costs. Cost escalation for the required pipe material is estimated to be more than $350,000.

CSRD staff have been in discussions with the Province of BC to determine if other funding sources can be accessed such as Community Works Funds, to address costs overages because of the delay. The Province has confirmed there are no additional funds available and utilizing Community Works Funds for a grant funded project is not authorized.

As the public assent process has not yet been completed for the Scotch Creek Water System Service Area, there is risk that if CSRD asks the public to borrow more money than what was originally identified, the process may not achieve public assent, says the report.

To mitigate this issue and ensure the water system is designed in the most cost-effective manner possible within the original budget, a negotiated Request for Proposal process will be undertaken. The process would require Urban Systems to hire an experienced contractor to help them design the project to fit the reduced budget and work collaboratively to realize efficiencies wherever possible. At the end of this process, the CSRD would have the option to enter into an agreement with the contractor to complete the construction portion of the process.

This process will allow the CSRD to determine accurate costs ahead of a public assent process. If the assent process does not achieve sufficiency, the feasibility study fund will be utilized to cover the costs to conduct the detailed design and identified construction costs. If the asset process is successful, the costs to conduct this work will be funded from the awarded grant funds.

As of December 31, 2021, the Electoral Area F Feasibility Study Fund has approximately $131,000 unallocated. In November 2019, the Board approved an initial feasibility fund amount of $45,000 to support the grant application, therefore if approved, the total feasibility funds allocated towards this project to date will be $105,000.

Area F Director Jay Simpson said the CSRD was originally notified in confidence about the grant approval in February 2021 but couldn’t go to engineering or anything else for a year. He said this is a critical piece of infrastructure in the North Shuswap to get affordable housing and thinks staff have come up with a good plan to reduce the cost as much as possible.