BC Hydro and the 麻豆传媒映画Board of Parks and Recreation have come to an agreement on underground support of the upcoming substation near Nelson Park.
The parks board is getting $8 million for the property rights that will allow BC Hydro to build distribution and transmission lines under the park, as well as driveway access. will be built under land owned by the school board where Roberts Annex Elementary School stands.
"The funds provided by BC Hydro will be used by Park Board to move forward with improving parks in the West End and help ensure Nelson Park continues to meet the needs of the growing community," the parks board says in a statement.
The school board and BC Hydro struck a $75 million agreement in 2018 to build the substation underneath the school property. The new substation will replace the 70-year-old Dal Grauer Substation on Burrard, which services the city's West End.
As the aging substation needs replacement, it's led to a series of public projects. The school board is using some of the $75 million to build a new school in Coal Harbour, which students going to Roberts Annex will move to once the new school is ready.
Then BC Hydro will build the substation underneath one corner of the Roberts Annex property; it's at this time the lines will be installed under Nelson Park. A playing field will be put on top of the substation.
The school board will then build a new school at the Roberts Annex site, but on the land not above the substation. Once finished, the school community will move back.
The parks board says it was aiming to ease disruptions at the park, which will be impacted by the installation of the lines, and to make sure there was "reasonable compensation" by BC Hydro on behalf of the park's users.
"Nelson Park provides critical access to nature for West End residents and is a space used for health, wellness and leisure," says the parks board. "There are currently 20,000 residents living within a 10 minute walk of Nelson Park and the population of the West End is expected to grow by 30,000 over the next 30 years."
Construction at the new substation is expected to run from 2024 to 2029. The park will be under construction over one or two winter months sometime during this period. An exact time hasn't been chosen, but officials are aiming for a period when the farmers' market isn't happening and park traffic is low.
