A leaky cemetery has led to higher costs for works and services at a new supportive housing complex.
Nanaimo city councillors increased the budget for works and services at the Boundary Crescent supportive housing complex by $61,000 on Monday, which will help address groundwater runoff from a cemetery into the parking lot.
“Under the agreement on all of these projects, the city agreed to cover the frontage works and services,” said Dale Lindsay, director of community development. “This is an increase in the budget to allow for that to happen on this Boundary project.”
As part of a memorandum of understanding with the B.C. government for new supportive housing units, the City of Nanaimo agreed to provide the land for development and pay for off-site works and services, a city report says.
The budget for the Boundary Crescent project, now open to residents, needed to be increased for additional work, including remediation for a failure in the drainage system.
Following completion of the new building, the owner noticed “significant” groundwater draining into the parking lot from the city-owned cemetery property behind the development, according to the report.
It also states that an earlier cost estimate for works and services did not include additional money needed for work to create additional parking space for the building.
The total for works and services is now expected to be $370,000.
The additional $61,000 came from the city’s Housing Legacy Reserve fund.