Key takeaways:
- The utility plans to make a substation under the site of Nelson Park and the current Lord Roberts Annex school.
- Under a B.C. Hydro plan, the existing Lord Roberts Annex school would be destroyed, and the students temporarily shifted to a new school in Coal Harbour.
- After that, a substation would be constructed underground, and a new school would be built on the same property.
B.C. Hydro has paid the Vancouver Park Board $8 million to use areas of Nelson Park in the city’s West End as they look to make an underground substation beginning in 2024.
The utility had asked the park board for a right-of-way area in the park so they could construct underground power lines, as well as a driveway entrance, to provide access to the eventual substation.
The West End Substation project will be done under the Lord Roberts Annex elementary school site — a move backed by the Vancouver School Board back in 2018 despite some resident outcry.
The school was destroyed, and the students temporarily shifted to a new school in Coal Harbour.
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Eventually, according to current plans, a new school will be made at the Nelson Park site, but that won’t be till 2029.
“The right of way access in Nelson Park is an essential part of a latest underground substation in the West End that will serve the downtown core for years to come,” stated Chris O’Riley, CEO of B.C. Hydro, in a statement.
The utility says the new substation must keep up with rising power demands in Vancouver’s downtown core. The present 70-year-old Dal Grauer Substation had “aging” infrastructure that required refurbishment.
The Park Board states it will use the $8 million compensation to enhance parks in the West End, a densely populated city area in the downtown peninsula.
Source – cbc.ca
