Telus Future Homes coming soon to downtown Oak Bay
Oak Bay council approved Telus’ temporary occupancy application for the Telus Future Homes project, which will be located adjacent to the Oak Bay Village on Hampshire Road. The Home is said to showcase current technology and allows attendees to experience this technology “first hand.” Maura Jones, the district’s deputy director of corporate services said the parking spot in from of the home will be temporarily occupied from the time that the home is delivered, until Sept. 23. There will be an intermittent road closure, which will occur only for the commercial block, during the time period for which the house is open to the public to access. Jones pointed out that neither staff or Telus received no concerns from residents about the Home’s presence in their neighbourhood.
Additional funding approved for new survey equipment
Council voted unanimously on Monday night to approve an additional $40,000 to purchase new surveying equipment for Oak Bay’s Engineering Services program, Daniel Horan, director of engineering, said his department has struggled with “obsolete” and “dated” equipment that will have a “negative impact” on its engineering operations. The equipment in question is a data collector and a GPS receiver, which are used by the district civil engineers to do survey work out in the field. This is for the purpose of developing base maps to do detail design work, capture locations of equipment or underground infrastructure that’s been built, and provide technical guidance to contruction crews in the field. The equipment cost of $35,000 that is slated to come out of the Capital Works Reserve.
New lining slated for aging pipes
Following a staff report earlier this year, Oak Bay Council approved a contract to improve Oak Bay’s aging pipe infrastructure. The contract will be awarded to Insituform Technologies Limited, which specializes in trench-less technology, or better known as “cured-in-place” pipe lining, and is seen as the most effective way to deal with infrastructure, said Daniel Horan, the district’s director of engineering. Horan added that this technology will do the same job for a fraction of the price and could extend the life of pipes by 50-plus years. Without any updates or new infrastructure, Horan said certain pipes in the district are in danger of failing completely in the next five years. The tender submission is for the amount of $165,870.
Roof proposal for Henderson Rec Centre goes forward
Henderson Recreation Centre will be getting a new roof after all, after Oak Bay council agreed to award the contract to the lowest-bidder, Alpha Roofing and Cladding Inc., for a total of $171,550. Council also approved the additional funds of $40,000 from the Capital Works Reserve to complete the project. Funding of $150,000 was approved for this project, with $75,000 to be funded from the Capital Works Reserve and the other $75,000 from taxation.