Burnaby City Council has approved the creation of a panel that will review the escalating costs for city infrastructure projects.
Coun. Pietro Calendrino, amid rising design and construction costs of several community center redevelopments.
The move came after the council approved a plan for a new pool, ice sheets, and Burnaby Lake recreation complex, costing $240 million. This is over $50 million higher than budgeted.
The plan was long overdue as the staff tried to reduce costs and scope from an estimated $340 million. Burnaby mayor Mike Hurley described the price as “ridiculously expensive.”
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Burnaby has faced challenges with other projects as well. Cost overruns plagued the city for years, and Burnaby spent hundreds of millions more than expected on everything from police stations to pools.
Calendario asked why the construction of residential projects costs about $600 per sq. foot while civic projects cost in the neighborhood $1,300.
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Calendario suggested that the city could take a leaf out of Metro Vancouver Regional District’s book and create a design committee to maximize efficiency.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation applauded saving money but warned that bringing in a review panel could bring its problems.
“If this panel can find real cost savings, and trim some fat from these large capital projects, then that is a positive thing,” said Carson Binda, director of the Federation B.C. director Carson Binda said. “But it remains to be determined… whether this will simply be another layer of bureaucracy which will consume even more money and time.”
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Matti Siemiatycki is the director of the University of Toronto’s Infrastructure Institute. He said that the issue Burnaby faces is common amongst municipalities and is caused by the interaction of human nature and politics.
Engineers, politicians, and city staff are enticed by concept art, architectural renderings, and promises, but they can’t walk away when they see the final bill.
He said that “all of those features which were crucial to selling the project to the public and getting it approved by council, then become extremely expensive and difficult to build when they move from the drawing board onto the construction site.”
The council voted unanimously in favor of the concept of a review board. However, it is unclear when and who will be appointed to this body.