Those concerned about increasing financial pressures went head to head with those pushing overdue public works infrastructure this year, prompting multiple flare ups. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

concerned citizens

Top Stories of 2024: Nanaimo’s public works upgrades still in limbo after turbulent year

Dec 28, 2024 | 10:09 AM

NANAIMO — A major public works and infrastructure project was front and centre at City Hall for all of 2024, but remains in largely the same spot it did at the end of last year.

At the forefront of a majority of discussion and disruption this year in Council chambers was an Alternative Approval Process (AAP) to fund a proposed upgrade to the City’s public works facility on Labieux Rd.

Originally slated to be built in phases, with the first budgeted up to $48.5 million, the ‘Nanaimo Operations Centre’ project would see new vehicle maintenance bays, administrative offices and other upgrades to the site, in a bid to ensure City readiness in the event of a major disaster.

AAP issues & reshaping the NOC
Following an AAP which was scuttled due to, ultimately incorrect, legal advice in late 2023, the City tried again to garner approval to borrow funds in early 2024 for the NOC.

New maintenance bays and administrative offices are proposed to be built at the northern end of the Labieux Rd. facility, eventually replacing current shops. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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It too was scrapped, due to an administrative error with the required public notice of the vote, with Council opting to push a pause button in February in order for staff to conduct a review.

““We believe as staff that the NOC continues to be a priority for the community, it is a requirement we believe for the continuation of successful operations for our staff and our purposes,” CAO Dale Lindsay said at the time. “It’s not that we’re abandoning the project…we will return to Council with options.”

Options returned in September, after discussions over the summer not only clarified how to run the AAP and what went wrong with the past two, but also the scope in which an AAP could be deployed to obtain elector approval.

This time, a simultaneously slimmed down yet beefed up proposal came to Council.

Instead of doing the project in phases, with a total bill of up to approximately $160 million, the City would move some aspects of the project to future capital plans and focus on the two main components.

Maintenance bays and administrative offices would be built together, with a borrowing request of up to $90 million.

A third AAP was launched Sept. 18 and ended on Halloween.

However it wasn’t until nearly a month later the City announced the request had failed, with 8,655 valid formed received. Just under 8,000 were required to stop the borrowing.

While the next steps are unknown, it’s likely the project in some form will go to referendum in 2025, or potentially be folded into the 2026 municipal election.

Councillors discussed options in early December, where they could have called a quick referendum for January, but opted to halt progress and re-evaluate.

The Nanaimo Operations Centre project, and the AAP used to fund it, drew large crowds of concerned residents in 2024. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Vocal opposition and sideshows
The AAP challenges through the year acted as a lightning rod for a very public, and at times performative, discussion of City finances.

Many Council meetings in early and mid-2024 saw larger galleries and several delegations speaking to Council on topics ranging from property tax increases, to City spending, connections to the World Economic Forum and local initiatives to combat climate change.

After weeks of presentations in the winter and spring from city residents on topics loosely connected to Council business, the situation reached a boiling point in May.

A man, who NanaimoNewsNOW is choosing not to name, spent roughly two of his allotted five minutes making unsubstantiated claims against Mayor Leonard Krog and his conduct, before asking for his time to be reset so he could make his presentation.

Krog, chairing the meeting, declined and at the end of the man’s original five minutes, Krog interjected to ask him to wrap up.

After repeated attempts to get the man to stop, his microphone was cut off and a recess to the meeting was called.

RCMP were eventually called into Council chambers after the man refused to vacate the podium. He, as well as a woman in the gallery, were arrested and removed from the building, but later released without charges.

“Having to call police into Council Chambers to be able to carry on with a Council meeting in 2024 in a modern, liberal state of democracy is an embarrassment, and the people who behave in that manner should be embarrassed,” Krog said after the incident.

An earlier delegation, including a man who has appeared multiple times over recent weeks, performed a skit at the podium regarding City finances. (City of Nanaimo)

The arrests came on the same night two other people appearing as a delegation, dressed up in King and Queen costumes and delivered a skit on City finances.

In the aftermath of the incident, Council moved to implement a Respectful Spaces bylaw, which outlined penalties for abusive conduct against City staff or elected officials.

Reports emerged of verbal abuse directed to City staff during the second AAP in the spring, in addition to multiple instances of harassment against Councillors.

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