EDMONTON — The City of Edmonton is readying its plan to fix heaving sidewalks, crumbling roads and rusty lamp posts in communities that weren't properly maintained for decades.
The
2011 neighbourhood renewal program is scheduled to begin or finish the two-year process of reconstructing six areas — Rio Terrace, Parkallen, Sherbrooke, Fulton Place, Capilano and West Jasper Place.
The work includes repaved roads, replacing sidewalks, curbs, gutters and street lights.
Relatively new roads in another three neighbourhoods will be resealed to keep them in good condition, while a dozen other places will have roads paved and sidewalk hazards eliminated.
This $104-million plan, including $11 million in work that couldn't get done in 2010, is another step in a strategy to ensure roughly 300 neighbourhoods are in fair to good condition within about 20 years.
It has been a long time coming. A report last month indicated the city didn't do any significant neighbourhood renewal work before 1987. In roughly the past two decades, only 70 were spruced up to some degree.
The heart of the program is an annual two-per-cent tax hike until 2018 dedicated to a fund that will eventually pay for the work without relying on provincial grants or other money.
The 2011 increase was cut to 1.5 per cent during December's budget debate.
Politicians generally accepted that lower prices and bottlenecks, such as a lack of designers, that prevented the city from spending the entire construction budget mean there will be enough cash to cover next year's work.
Coun. Don Iveson, who foresees the dedicated tax increase remaining at 1.5 per cent a year until 2018, feels this shouldn't affect the pace of work, but adds a caution on his blog.
"If inflation hits this program at more than five per cent a year between now (and) 2018, we will have to either slow the work or raise that rate again."
Some of his colleagues worry continued cuts will put the repair timetable in jeopardy.
"I want us to be able to guarantee to citizens that we're going to be able to fix all these neighbourhoods and do it in as timely a fashion as we can," Coun. Kim Krushell says.
"My concern is if you get councillors in a habit of reducing neighbourhood renewal, then we will be back where we were in the '90s (when) they took all the money from maintenance."
However, for now the numbers are still being studied.
"The lower inflation numbers would mean that we could accomplish the planned reconstruction program while requiring a lower tax levy," transportation operations manager Brice Stephenson says in an e-mail.
"We are doing a review of the program as part of developing next year's budget to ensure the funds requested in the budget continue to match program targets."
Community infrastructure renewal is co-ordinated where necessary with a related program, Great Neighbourhoods.
This plan is slated to spend about $45 million in 2009-11 in 14 areas on priorities such as streetscape improvements, making commercial districts more attractive and better lighting and pathways.
One unintended consequence of neighbourhood renewal is that the old cliche of the city paving roads only to dig them up again is coming true.
Although staff try to ensure Epcor finishes sewer work before rebuilding streets and sidewalks, "there have been situations in which newly constructed roads were excavated in order to repair underground infrastructure," a city report says.
To reduce this problem, drainage is seeking more money for sewer improvements so its schedule better matches the neighbourhood renewal program.
As well, planners are attempting to co-ordinate above-ground work with Epcor and Atco's cast-iron water-main and gas-line replacement.
The city spent just $282 million on neighbourhood renewal from 1992 to 2008, meaning only one or two neighbourhoods a year were rebuilt for most of the past decade.
Officials now plan to spend more than $100 million annually on a program that will reconstruct at least a half-dozen areas each year, in addition to paving and other improvements.
The hope is to clear the backlog and provide three cycles of maintenance or paving before infrastructure reaches the end of its useful life in about 60 years and needs to be replaced.
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