City council put its official stamp of approval on several matters Monday evening, including the purchase of electric bus chargers, plans for a new pedestrian bridge and an effort asking for upper-tier governments to help out organizations impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic:
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At a cost of $1.5 million, council approved the purchase of four electric bus charging stations to be installed at the city’s transit headquarters on Watson Road South. This will allow the city to begin buying electric buses as diesel buses come up for lifecycle renewal - a pilot project intended to give municipal staff hands-on experience with electric buses. Fleet electrification is part of a much larger proposal to create a campus for transit, operations, fleet maintenance and corporate building maintenance departments. The campus has not been approved at this time.
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In declaring an environmental assessment to be complete, council took a step toward creation of a vehicle-free bridge connecting Emma and Earl streets. The 90-metre long structure, situated about 200-metres downstream of Speedvale Avenue, will have a support tier placed where there’s an existing utility pole and footing. The alignment runs through a hydro corridor and power lines currently strung over the river will be incorporated into the bridge’s design. The $1.7 million project is slated for 2023.
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The provincial and federal governments are being asked to help community-level organizations, service clubs and more to make up money lost by the cancelation of fundraising events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The city recently handed out $200,000 to 26 such groups through its Emergency Fund, with another $150,000 on tap for phase two. However, about 65 groups applied for the first phase of funds, asking for about $1.2 million.
The first two matters were previously approved by the Committee of the Whole on Sept. 8. The latter was pulled from an information report made public on Sept. 4.
