A new median down Nicol St. in downtown Nanaimo, along with a revived Pioneer Park off Victoria Rd., are included in a joint City and provincial upgrade. (City of Nanaimo)

By Alex Rawnsley

phase one

Additional cash approved for infrastructure & park upgrades in downtown Nanaimo

Feb 15, 2023 | 10:57 AM

NANAIMO — Underground and surface-level improvements are coming to a key stretch of the city’s downtown core.

Councillors voted nearly unanimously in favour of an increased budget for phase one upgrades to Terminal Ave./Nicol. St, between Esplanade and Commercial St. including underground infrastructure replacement and surface-level changes.

Richard Harding, City director of parks, recreation and culture, told councillors Wednesday, Feb. 15, the underground replacement is giving them an excuse to make the whole area better by designing park space which allows for pedestrian movement, but limits improper use.

“Our goal is to make sure it’s open to everybody and everyone’s allowed and encouraged to be in all of our parks, but they also need to be there in appropriate ways and appropriate times. The goal with the plantings and design is to encourage it’s useable throughout the day for everyone but not to be a place to erect structures or to live there.”

The genesis of the project came from needed replacement of water main and sewer infrastructure in a stretch of Terminal Ave/Nicol St. near Port Place Shopping Centre.

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Also included are several street-level enhancements including a median down Terminal Ave. as well as upgraded park spaces at both Pioneer Park and Italian Square Park.

New plantings, adjusted sidewalk areas and selected landscaping features to discourage loitering are the focus of the new designs.

Better crosswalk configurations at Esplanade, Commercial St. and Gordon St. are also planned.

A proposed transit exchange in the area is not included in this phase of the project and discussions about the exchange, including its exact location, remain ongoing with more details expected in the summer.

The scope of the project ranges largely from Esplanade to Commercial St., with plans for a City-owned stretch of land (highlighted in blue) still being discussed (City of Nanaimo)

The City had previously approved money for the project with approximately $2.66 million remaining to complete the work, however an additional $1.15 million was provisionally added by councillors Wednesday at their finance and audit committee meeting.

Inflation and additional water main replacement are the main driving forces behind the increased need for funds.

Extra money will come from both the general and water asset management reserve funds and must still be formally approved at a City Council meeting at a later date.

Provincial funding of $1.2 million is also contributing to the project, adding to the City’s contributions, for work along Terminal Ave./Nicol St. which doubles as the Trans Canada Hwy.

Work will include a new landscaped centre median.

Lanes will narrow slightly, but still fall comfortably within ministry guidelines, according to City general manager of engineering and public works Bill Sims.

“We’ve worked closely with the Ministry of Transportation, whose prime directive I would say is about traffic flow. They’re comfortable with this, we’ll be able to continue traffic flow through the site, they would definitely discourage anything such as raised intersections, raised crosswalks.”

Coun. Sheryl Armstrong had raised concerns over emergency vehicle access and travel through the corridor, especially during busy times when vehicles may travel in the opposite lanes to get around jams.

More shrubbery, trees and pathways are planned for a revived Italian Square Park on Terminal Ave. (City of Nanaimo)

Council support was near unanimous, despite some objections to minor facets of the project.

Coun. Hilary Eastmure said she was uncomfortable with some design elements in the park re-designs, namely the fencing bordering grassy areas.

“I think that needs another look. I’m not really comfortable with the thinly veiled, hostile architecture approach we’re taking to try and discourage the types of use, I’d rather us take an approach what kind of usage do we want to encourage.”

Coun. Erin Hemmens said the opportunity to combine provincial dollars with City cash doesn’t come around every day and should be taken.

“The fact that we’re using this to also leverage provincial dollars, as well as our downtown design guidelines and remove some of the fences we hate downtown, I think that’s a win. Costs are going up, they’re not going to go down so I would prefer to see us tackle this now.”

She added she had concerns about some of the park design choices, however, they weren’t enough to not support the project at this stage.

The lone no vote was coun. Janice Perrino who raised cost concerns.

She added her support would be more easily gained if the project was tied to development in the area or upgrades on a larger scale. Perrino said it’s one section which, at present, doesn’t connect to anything else.

“The problem I have is that it’s already over budget and we haven’t even started yet. That’s my big issue, if it’s already over budget now, it’s going to be over budget on a few occasions in the future.”

Sims indicated a tender would go out for the project in the next few weeks with construction hoped to begin over the summer.

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