Penticton city council has approved a master plan to guide the city’s infrastructure investments for the next 25 years.
Council voted 5-2 to approve the plan, with councillors James Miller and Judy Sentes opposed.
The plan contains more than $275 million worth of projects in multiple categories for the next 25 years.
Some of those projects are considered high priorities with the idea that they are considered for and included in budgets to be completed over the next one to five years.
Those high priority projects add up to nearly $69 million, broken down into the following sections: almost $10 million for water projects, $6.6 million for stormwater projects, close to $800,000 for sanitary sewer projects, $13.6 million for sidewalks, $22.5 million for intersections and more than $15 million for bike lanes.
READ MORE: Penticton looks to spend over $15 million on bike lanes over the next 5 years
The infrastructure master plan doesn’t mean these projects are guaranteed to be included in future budgets but is considered a recommendation for what is needed to hold to the goals of the Official Community Plan.
High-priority water projects include expanding the Ridgedale Avenue Reservoir, upgrades to the Penticton Avenue and MacCleave PRVs, upgrades to the industrial area, 150 new fire hydrants over 15 years, and an Air and Recycle Optimization study.
High-priority stormwater projects include diversions on Riverside Drive and Power Street South, upgrades to Churchill Avenue and Power Street North, a major system upgrade to Carmi Road, drainage for the Campbell Mountain landfill and the installation of a rain gauge.
A flow monitoring program and model calibration is listed for both stormwater and sanitary sewer as a high priority project. Also listed for the sanitary sewer is a refit of the South Okanagan Events Centre lift station’s wet well.
The high-priority transportation projects, including bike lanes beyond the Lake to Lake route, also cover upgrades to various intersections, such as adding turning lanes or installing roundabouts.
Medium priority projects are ideally planned for completion over the next six to 10 years, and low priority projects would be completed sometime over the next 25 years.
The medium priority projects total $73.5 million broken down into the following sections: $3.5 million for water projects, $2.4 million for stormwater projects, more than $130,000 for sanitary sewer projects, $34 million for sidewalks, $23.7 million for intersections and $9.5 million for bike lanes.
Finally, the low priority projects total $133 million broken down into: $25.6 million for water projects, $49 million for stormwater projects, over $800,000 for sanitary sewer projects, $46.5 million for sidewalks, $7.5 million for intersections and close to $4 million for bike lanes.
All of these projects will return to council for discussion in coming budgets and financial plans, at which point decisions will be made on whether to go forward with them or not.
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