Recent heavy rains have prompted Port Coquitlam to buy another pump to prevent flooding on the city's north side, below Burke Mountain.
This week, PoCo's finance committee voted to transfer $110,000 from its operating budget to pay for a second pump at the Laurier Avenue pump station.
Engineering and operations director Kristen Meersman said Thursday the extra pump is expected to be in place by the end of the month. The existing pump, which was installed 19 years ago, is "exceeding capacity" and another is required.
The recent excessive rain, combined with the rapid pace of development on Burke Mountain — which in turn causes more run-off — has increased flows into DeBoville Slough. As a result, the water table has risen and the city has had to contend with more flooding at and around the Lincoln Avenue and Devon Road intersection, where the yet-to-be-build Fremont connector is set to end on the Port Coquitlam side.
As well, residents on St. Thomas Street and in the Sun Valley Park neighbourhood have complained to the city about regular flooding around their homes.
The finance committee decided to spend the money on the second pump after it passed over a plan to bury overhead wires along Pitt River Road.
The stretch of that arterial, between Mary Hill Road and Taylor Street, is in the 2016 capital budget (which has yet to be approved by council). It is expected to undergo $2.4 million worth of upgrades, including new curb and gutters, sidewalks, street lighting, road widening and retaining walls, according to a city report.
Placing the BC Hydro, Telus and Shaw overhead wires under the pavement would add $4 million to the bill, though BC Hydro had offered to offset up to $1 million of the project as part of its beautification funding program.
Its portion of the work would have meant acquisition of rights-of-way, switches and rewiring, among other things, totalling up to $3.5 million.
However, to bury the Shaw and Telus cables would have tacked on at least another $500,000, with no grants coming from those companies.
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