Port Coquitlam city staff have dusted off plans for a new park tied to an elementary school.
This week, the city's finance committee voted to apply for a federal grant that, if approved, would pay for up to two thirds of the capital costs to remediate the Blakeburn lagoons.
The two sanitary settling ponds, located east of Blakeburn elementary, have been fenced off for 40 years.
In the 1990s, tests found excessive fecal coliform, copper and mercury levels in the water. There has also been illegal access to the site, "creating potential health risks and occasional complaints of odours from the lagoons by the surrounding residents," a staff report noted.
A community passive park was earmarked as a priority in the late 1990s during a public process in the Riverwood neighbourhood and, in 2006, the lagoon rehabilitation project was put in the Parks, Recreation and Culture Plan.
The proposed park is intended to be used for hiking, walking, wildlife viewing, picnicking and dog walking, and for educational purposes.
But while the committee voted Monday to apply for $2.2-million New Build Canada Fund (small communities) grant by the Feb. 18 deadline, it also worried about the potential $1.1-million hit for city taxpayers, should the bid be approved.
The decision comes as the city is receiving feedback on its draft 2015 budget, which calls for tight spending measures in order to keep property taxes low.
Ron Myers, PoCo's manager of parks planning and design, told the committee the new park would cost about $90,000 a year to maintain, based on Lions Park estimates.
And he said the future remediation would involve more design and engineering plans, decommissioning of existing infrastructure, storm water and flood management, hazardous material abatement, site restoration and park construction.
"I have real challenges with putting this [project] ahead of the downtown core mobility issues," Coun. Mike Forrest told the committee.
But Mayor Greg Moore said the brownfield restoration would dip into a different federal funding envelope than transportation.
Coun. Dean Washington, chair of the city's new budget sub-committee, also asked what would happen if PoCo were to receive the federal cash but not proceed due to lack of municipal bucks.
"I would think that might not be helpful for future applications," Moore responded.
@jwarrenTC
