There will be no P3 arrangement for Ray Gibbon Drive.
The project doesn’t qualify for a federal program called P3 Canada because it’s already been planned and engineered, city council learned Monday night.
Council had been expecting to debate whether or not to hire a firm to assemble an application for the program on the city’s behalf. It was thought the program could have provided $4.2 million for the $17 million project.
Now that the P3 idea is off the table, council will be left to consider a borrowing bylaw that’s expected to come up for debate by June 30. The city has $2 million in reserves for the project and will be looking to borrow about $15 million.
Coun. Roger Lemieux said he will definitely be advocating for borrowing.
The time is right because interest rates are less than five per cent and construction costs are the lowest they’ve been in years. Plus the city needs to finish the road to ease traffic through the North Ridge neighbourhood and prepare for future development of the northwest quadrant.
“The stars are all lined up,” Lemieux said. “We’re never going to find construction costs like that again. If we wait even a year, I bet you that’s going to escalate by at least a million dollars.”
Mayor Nolan Crouse has said he’s leaning toward borrowing the money and finishing stage three while “construction costs are predictable.”
But not everyone on council is sold on the idea yet.
Coun. Cam MacKay said he’ll have to weigh the benefits of the road against the question of spending.
“We do know at some point that Ray Gibbon Drive will be completed, it’s really just a matter of timing now and I don’t know if that’s now,” he said.
The province has promised to reimburse the city for any costs related to building the road to a highway standard rather than an arterial road. To date, the province has provided $18.4 million, $14.4 million last year plus $4.4 million this spring.
In March council agreed to spend $17 million to buy the land necessary for stage three, which will extend the road from Giroux Road to Villeneuve Road.
