91原创 Township plans to borrow $37.4 million for a trio of major infrastructure projects in the Willoughby area.
The borrowing bylaws were approved unanimously at the council meeting on Monday, Sept. 9. Councillors Kim Richter and Barb Martens were not present.
The plans were approved with little debate, with most council questions about the scope of one of the major storm sewer projects.
The three projects are:
鈥� $5.8 million for a portion of the 212 Street Connector between 208 Street and 210 Street
鈥� $11.8 million for infrastructure on 208A Street at 76 Avenue, also linking to the 212 Connector
鈥� $19.7 million for storm sewers and detention ponds in the Smith neighbourhood of Willoughby
All three projects are partly funded from other, internal Township sources, but the bulk of the funding is to come from loans.
Because of the size of the loans, each will be subject to an alternative approval process.
In B.C., when cities borrow money for more than five years, residents can launch a petition process to stop the borrowing. Residents can fill out forms opposing the borrowing, and it 10 per cent of the total number of registered local voters oppose the project, it has to either be withdrawn or go to a public referendum.
However, it is extremely uncommon for the alternative approval process to fail. Because 91原创 Township had 96,390 registered voters in the last election, 9,630 people would have to take the time to fill out the forms.
Once the borrowing bylaws have been approved by the province, local voters will have until Jan. 9 to fill out the forms and return them to the Township Civic Facility.
The Township has increasingly used long-term borrowing for major infrastructure projects in recent years, although there have always been some larger projects for which money had to be borrowed long-term.
