REGINA — The City of Regina will invest $75.4 million into two wastewater lift stations to spur housing development in the city.
On Wednesday, city council unanimously approved investing $66.8 million in a new Northwest Regional Wastewater Lift Station (NRWLS) and $8.6 million into the Westerra Wastewater Lift Station (WWLS) built in 2017.
Per a report, these two lift stations are expected to support over 18,000 new dwelling units in development areas like Westerra, Coopertown, Westbrook, and more.
The move to foster growth in northwest Regina was supported by Coun. Jason Mancinelli (Ward 9)
“It’s not often that I can say that this is also a solution for decades-old problems, [such as] backing up sewers during rain events. I don’t think a person gets to correct something like that very often,” he said.
This decision overturns a change made by Regina, where they moved away from including lift stations in the development charge financial cash flow model (DC Model), citing a deficit in the account as the reason.
Developers said this change hindered new neighbourhood developments, as investing in a new lift station was a large capital investment.
Deborah Bryden, deputy city manager of city planning & community development, outlined what would have happened if city council hadn’t approved the motion.
“The land would likely sit there until funding became available to advance this project.”
As for paying for the lift stations, city administration outlined a plan to submit an application for the fall intake of the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF).
If approved, the city could receive $48.9 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments.
Regina will also transfer nearly $11 million from the general utility reserve, while utilizing development charges and a long-term debt paid off by a one-time dedicated mill rate to fund the rest of the $75.4 million.
The mill rate could be between 0.17 to 0.89 per cent, depending on whether the city is approved for the CHIF grant.
City administration also said financing for both projects would occur at the same time.
The city will get most of the money back from development charges plus interest.
An update on the lift stations will be provided after Regina receives news on their grant application.
