Capital Projects in 2020

At the Town’s Budget meeting on Thursday and Friday, funding was allocated for a large number of projects.  The ones relating to the Harbour and Marina were mentioned in yesterday’s long report but Public Works also had a list. Some are routine and some are not.  A large number of items are not really contentious or (in my opinion) of interest to the public.  Although all items are listed, only those of interest are detailed below.

Approved 2020 Projects

Sidewalk Construction  $200K Sidewalk Construction was put on hold pending development of a policy as to how priorities would be set. The final approved policy (see link below) ending up putting Abbott Boulevard as next on the list even though objections to this were the reason a policy was put together.

Matthew Street Reconstruction  $820K Matthew Street between King Street West and University Ave requires urbanizing sanitary and storm sewers to be replaced. Project will be completed jointly with LUSI who requires the watermain to be replaced. Matthew Street was ranked as one of the highest priorities in the Town’s asset management plan specifically due to poor water quality.

Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation  $1M Work to stop groundwater inflow and infiltration and subsequently reduce the cost of processing clean groundwater at the WPCP.  Includes adding water tight maintenance hole covers.  Public consultation may be required if proposed work impacts private services.

Kerr Street
Kerr Street

Kerr Street Extension – Division to D’Arcy $2.72M  The project will include a full storm sewer system, traffic signals, the extension of West Street and sanitary stubs for future development.  West Street runs North-South in Northam park so an extension would allow Kerr St. to connect easily to Northam park. This project was been talked about for many years – the image at right was made from a Google satellite image in 2015.

Shoreline Management Program $10K Work in conjunction with the GRCA to address future Lake Ontario erosion. Cobourg’s share of Consultant’s fee.  A Public Consultation is expected.

Albert Street Reconstruction $15K To complete utility relocation work. Albert Street from Hibernia Street to Third Street requires urbanizing, sanitary and storm sewers to be replaced – the full project is scheduled for 2021.

Street Light Replacement program $355K/year.  Street Lights are beginning to fail and there are no more induction lamp replacements available. The Town will be switching to LED lamps which requires all fixtures to be replaced as well as lamps. Maintenance contract for lamp replacement was tendered in 2019 to renew failing light posts and replace induction fixtures with LED.

Estimated replacement schedule:
Year 1 – 3 – Failing post replacement – 120/-200 cobra heads / – 50 decorative
Year 4 – 9 – 300 cobra heads / 108 decorative
Fixtures will only be replaced when lamps burn out.

Parking Meters Replacement $15K Replace aging and non-repairable parking meter heads including those that were vandalized in 2019. Each meter head costs – $300 and each pay and display costs – $6,000. Consideration will be made for replacing with blocks of meters with pay and display similar to what was done on Queen Street in 2019. The budgeted funds should replace – 50 meter heads or 2 pay and displays.

Transit Shelters  $15K  Construct two new transit shelters every year at existing bus stops that currently do not have shelters or replace aging existing shelters. Location will be determined in consultation with the Accessibility Advisory Committee.

Wheels Bus Replacement  $160K  If ICIP Transit Stream funding is approved, the Town will proceed with the immediate purchase of a secondary Wheels bus as the current Wheels back up bus (90S) is out of service due to major repair requirements and is not 100% accessible. Bus 90S is over 13 years old and this type of bus is scheduled to be replaced every 8 years in accordance with the Town’s vehicle depreciation and replacement plan. The full cost of this type of vehicle is $160K. Due to Provincial/Federal funding, the bus will be purchased at 26.67% of cost. Capital will not proceed unless ICIP Funding is received.

Links

Other Cobourg News Blog Articles

Town Documents

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15 Comments
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CiW
4 years ago

Please, please, please, if possible, put a roundabout where Kerr St. will meet D’arcy Street. The last thing we need is another set of stop lights. Perhaps even a yield sign on Kerr, but no stop lights.

JimT
Reply to  CiW
4 years ago

Can’t. Existing buildings would have to be moved. Sorry.

Mark
Reply to  JimT
4 years ago

They could always buy the buildings if they wanted t

Canuck Patriot
Reply to  Mark
4 years ago

And just who is”They”? Taxpayers don’t have the money to blow on this kind of nonsense.

We’re broke, angry and fed-up with our money being wasted on mega projects that are purely discretionary.

Hugh Murray
4 years ago

Traffic lights: Why not just eliminate some of the many traffic lights in town and use 4-way stops? There are
many intersections, especially downtown, where only a tiny number of people use the intersection. Albert and Third Street (Liquor store); Albert and Hibernia (Police station); University and Ontario. So many more, and they all waste time.

Reply to  Hugh Murray
4 years ago

I wonder too why round abouts aren’t considered as a less expensive alternative. The ones on D’Arcy work so well!

Doug Weldon
Reply to  Gigi Ludorf-Weaver
4 years ago

As car drivers, round abouts require only slowing down which is great. Pedestrians though have to be on the look out as no cars really come to a stop. Better run. Bicycles have the same problem. Transport trucks going through a round about will have their trailer swing wide towards the curb if they travel at any speed around the round about. Bikers have been sideswiped and killed. Then, as in our town lovely trees are planted in the center which then blocks the view for a pedestrian trying to see if traffic is coming.
4 -way stops: Everyone expects to have to stop. Pedestrians have a good line of vision. This is probably the safest type of intersection. And unlike our 2 traffic circles now on D’Arcy St. no reconstruction is required to create four way stops. In the old part of town buildings would have to be torn down to allow for room for sidewalks. Walk on D’Arcy and try walking around the whole way on the traffic circles and if there is any traffic you will see all the problems.

MiriamM
Reply to  Doug Weldon
4 years ago

Good points Doug. I prefer a 4 way stop, too, in many cases. Still a challenge for pedestrians, though. How is it determined who has the right of way? Maybe pedestrians could have a simple pole light on each corner they can trigger to flash which would make all the vehicles stop? And those round-abouts, from a pedestrian and driver perspective I do not believe it is the trees in the centre of the round-about which are the issue but tall garden plants that may grow below the trees. And, as trees grow the lower branches can be trimmed away so that the sight lines are maintained for everyone including drivers, cyclists,pedestrians. Initially, there were tall ornamental grasses planted in the round-abouts, taller than a standing adult human, which meant that a pedestrian had a blocked view to oncoming traffic and leaving only a few seconds to react. Especially so when the pedestrian was using the marked crossing area. It looks like the Town addressed that problem by replacing the tall plants with lower growing varieties. From your note, maybe more needs to be done?

perplexed
Reply to  MiriamM
4 years ago

Its all Costs new or to change over
and with the Senior drivers and the way they run the lights around this town
The BIGGER the YELLOW & Red lights the Better and the safer it will be
Why is everyone in a rush ??

Pierre
Reply to  Doug Weldon
4 years ago

Doug, if drivers obeyed the traffic rules while using roundabouts, like signalling it would be much easier.
You don’t need to come to a Stop, you yield to the driver on the left.
If one obeys the rules all will run smooth.

Albert
Reply to  Doug Weldon
4 years ago

How many pedestrians outside of downtown Cobourg?

JimT
Reply to  Hugh Murray
4 years ago

Lots of pedestrian traffic at Albert and Third Sts. and town buses turning the corner there as well. That corner needs positive traffic control.

Interested Taxpayer
4 years ago

John – so appreciate all the time you take to keep us informed on Council discussions and meetings despite lengthy meetings, often tedious deliberations and the need to keep alert in order to report accurately and comprehensively. Sure saves the rest of us a lot of time (and frustration!) Definitely a community service .

Greenthumb
4 years ago

Thanks for this list! Much easier than looking for it on the town site.

Also, one helpful note, it is actually Mathew St, not Matthew.

John Draper
Reply to  Greenthumb
4 years ago

You are right – but I got the spelling from town documents!