Coun. Sandy Hickman started a debate among St. John’s residents last week when he suggested the city consider heating downtown sidewalks.
The debate seemed to spew over to council for a moment during the Monday evening meeting.
Deputy city manager for planning, Jason Sinyard, told council that staff are too far along with the designs of Phase 2 of Water Street sewer upgrades to consider integrating heated sidewalks as Hickman suggested last week.
Sinyard said staff could conduct research and make recommendations to council about the feasibility of heated sidewalks before Phase 3 of construction instead — therefore delaying the idea until 2020.
“It’s an opportunity lost, for sure," — Coun. Sandy Hickman
Coun. Dave Lane suggested the idea be referred to the committee of the whole so councillors could further discuss it before city staff delve into research.
Hickman then appeared to break meeting etiquette as he stood to respond to Lane while Lane was already standing and speaking.
For a brief moment, both councillors were standing while other councillors looked on apprehensively.
“We’re friends,” smiled Lane, and Mayor Danny Breen asked Hickman to remain seated while Lane spoke.
Lane said it sounds as if city staff are already intensively exploring the idea suggested by Hickman.
“It seems like this could get a bit big, so let’s think it through first,” he said.
As quickly as the idea heated up, it is now back to a simmer — at least temporarily.
Breen said that because the idea will mean quite bit of work for city staff, it will be referred to the committee of the whole to be discussed at the Wednesday meeting before staff go any further with the work.
Hickman told The Telegram he is happy council is showing interest in the idea.
Still, he’s “very disappointed” the idea couldn’t be implemented during Phase 2 this spring as he had originally hoped.
“It’s an opportunity lost, for sure,” he said.
Using Mile One heat
Since last week, Hickman said, he has been contacted by seven companies that specialize in heated sidewalks.
They’ve pitched everything from heating sewer pipes to laying heated mats on sidewalks during winter months. Other ideas were more electrical-based.
Hickman said he’s also spoken with a manager at Mile One Centre.
“There’s waste heat in Mile One from the plant,” said Hickman.
Hickman said at one point the waste heat was considered for heating the Convention Centre, but it was thought to be too expensive.
“But now I think it’s too expensive that we didn’t do it because we would have saved tens of thousands of dollars a year on heating the Convention Centre. So, we lost that opportunity, but another opportunity may present itself, possibly heating city hall, or possibly heating sidewalks around the Convention Centre.”
Hickman said he’s simply suggesting the city try new ideas and new technologies in “every line of work the city handles,” whether it’s in garbage collection methods or in revitalizing downtown through improvements such as heated sidewalks.
Twitter: @juanitamercer_
