Overview

The City of Whitehorse has initiated a process to reconstruct Cook Street from 4th Avenue to the escarpment, along with the portions of 5th, 7th, and 8th Avenues between Ogilvie and Wheeler Streets. This project is referred to as the Cook Street Local Improvement (LI) Project.

Process

Phase 2 of the Cook Street Reconstruction project between 6th Avenue and the escarpment has commenced.

Property owners can expect the contractor’s public liaison to contact them shortly to arrange a pre-construction meeting to discuss schedule, property access, servicing, garbage/compost pickup, mail delivery and document yard condition.

There will also be construction activity along 7th Avenue between Ogilvie Street and Wheeler Street, and 8th Avenue between the laneways of Ogilvie Street and Wheeler Street.

Please direct inquiries to the following personnel:

P.S. Sidhu Trucking Ltd. Public Liaison – Will Douglas – (867) 689-4700 or [email protected]

City of Whitehorse Engineering Services department – (867) 668-8305 or [email protected]

Project Goals and Rationale

The Cook Street LI Project is proceeding to:

• Replace aging water and sewer mains: The water and sewer mains that run underneath Cook Street date back to the 1950s and are constructed of asbestos cement. This material typically has a functional life of 40 to 65 years. The City would like to renew this infrastructure before disruptive and costly repairs are required.   

• Replace bleeding water services: Many buildings in Downtown have water systems that periodically “bleed” (release) water during cold months to prevent services from freezing. The City is seeking to replace bleeders with recirculating services because this practice consumes a vast amount of water, which is expensive and energy intensive for the City to treat to potable standards, heat, and circulate. The practice also contributes to dilution of the sanitary lagoon, which inhibits its proper functioning.

• Improve service capacity: The 150 mm diameter water mains that currently service Cook Street require up-sizing to ensure that fire-flow requirements are met. Larger mains will also help to ensure that service provision is adequately maintained for current and future residents, in light of new development in the area.

• Replace deteriorating road surface: The paved road surface of Cook Street is deteriorating, drainage is poor, and potholes are a common occurrence. The roadway has reached the end of its useful life, meaning that it is no longer economical to perform regular maintenance and repair, and it instead requires a complete rehabilitation.

• Improve pedestrian infrastructure: The City is striving to create a more accessible Downtown through the development of barrier-free sidewalks that provide comfort and safety for pedestrians and people with mobility aid devices.

Costs

The City will pay for all underground works in the road right-of-way and for a new recirculating water service on each property all the way to the front of the building/residence. The property owner will be responsible for purchasing a recirculating pump and for any related indoor plumbing work (estimated at $2,000 to $3,000), and will have the option to replace their sewer service while the reconstruction project is underway (estimated at $100 per metre).

Sharing of the cost of surface works is described in the City’s LI Policy, and the charge is applied to each property’s frontage on a per metre basis. The 2018 LI Charge rates are as follows:

• Government: $1,936.56/metre of frontage (full rate)
• Commercial: $1,291.04/metre of frontage (2/3 of the rate)
• Residential and non-profit: $645.52/metre of frontage (1/3 of the rate)

The LI Charge is set at the time of the Bylaw and will not increase regardless of actual costs. It can be paid as a lump-sum, or in installments over 15 years as part of the Municipal tax bill.