The revelation of a near tripling of the cost of the Park House and underground parking project has brought much criticism from the public. The mayor, some councilors and some senior administrators have been found lacking.
I am not going to repeat what has already been reported in articles, editorials and letters by those who are attempting to bring this problem under the spotlight. However, I would like to point my finger in a slightly different direction. It appears the two biggest factors for these massive cost overruns are solving the problem of water threatening to flood the underground parking area and the need to replace, relocate and increase the capacity of the antiquated water and sewage infrastructure in that old part of the city.
Our mayor, our councilors and our senior administrators are not required to be experts in the intricacies of a major development of this magnitude. They are expected to know how to get the advice of experts to guide them through such a development. It would appear either the expertise of qualified people in the initial planning, design and engineering stage of the project was not sought, was ignored or was poorly done by those hired.
That is the crux of the problem and which of those three possibilities is found to be the cause of where we find ourselves should determine where the finger should be pointed.
I took my $600 iPad complete with free altimeter app and found out in 10 minutes that the street in front of the development is at the same level as the parking lot at the Nechako River boat launch. That information together with the easily attained knowledge that the entire downtown portion of our city is an old gravel-filled riverbed for the Fraser and Nechako Rivers should make a well paid expert think that maybe there may be a water issue with an underground parking lot in that location. Considering the availability, condition and location of water and sewage infrastructure should also be something that is considered in the early planning, design and engineering stages of such a project, not when the project is well on its way.
The failure of planners to recognize potential problems early on in publicly funded capital project happens far too often. Here in Prince George, some other examples are the bridge fiasco in the BCR industrial area, the UNBC access road and, going way back, the Coliseum/Rolling Mix Concrete arena.
For those who don't remember that one, I'll refresh memories. In the mid-1950s, our old skating rink/hockey arena collapsed. It was a miracle there was no loss of life or serious injury. One would think that high up on the list of requirements for its replacement would be the need for the building to be built well enough that it would stay standing.
But alas, no.
Not once, but twice, the building had to be strengthened. First, the two massive beam structures were put on the outside of the building to hold it up. That apparently wasn't enough so a few years later steel structures were added on the inside of the roof to make it safe.
This isn't a problem experienced only at the civic level. One only needs to look a bit to the north of us to where we are with Site C. The Christy Clark government pushed the BC Utilities Commission aside whose job it is to take a non-political look at utility projects to ensure their viability. We could only hope that with that independent review not done they would have been doubly careful before proceeding.
But alas, no.
Here we are billions of dollars into that project and we are being told it appears there is no stable rock there to tie the dam into. Should not it have been part of the pre-construction phase to determine that basic fact?
Is it politicians wanting to get these high profile jobs underway, is it public servants choosing to ignore the alarm bells or is it poor work in the initial stages of these developments by well paid experts that is causing us taxpayers to keep footing the bill for someone else's mistakes?
There has been criticism of the mayor, individual councilors and senior city staff on the Park House issue. The professionals hired by the city to advise all of the above on this and other projects should not get off the hook without someone looking into their role in this mess.
John Warner
Prince George
