November 26, 2014
Safety First at our Northgate Neighbourhood
We have experienced a number of power outages in South Delta this fall. The causes have been varied: from a fire on top of a power pole, to fallen power lines, to power pole damage caused by weather. The outages have inconvenienced us all and caused traffic congestion in the area.
These incidents occurred close to our Northgate project site; however, the outages were not caused by construction activity. Safety is always a priority on our construction sites, and Unitech (our construction manager for Northgate) has been proactive in notifying local police and BC Hydro to protect the safety of the workers on site, as well as the neighbours. Thankfully, nobody was injured in these incidents.
Although expensive, we believe burying power lines underground is the way forward. Overhead power lines and utility poles pose a number of issues to public safety and are susceptible to power outages; as a result, more and more residential areas are now burying power lines. We are working closely with BC Hydro on solutions to prevent power outages in the future and have inquired about upgrading the power poles in the area. Having power lines underground will improve the quality of the neighbourhood, ensure public safety, and reduce service disruptions.