In line with a massive reconstruction project, the city is proposing to charge 82 Takhini North households more than $22,000 each for new infrastructure in their neighbourhood, about $16,000 more than residents thought they would have to pay.

In an interview Tuesday, city engineering manager Wayne Tuck said the latest figures he has compiled for the cost of putting in new water and sewer lines as well as new roads to the aging subdivision will come to $22,500 for each Takhini unit.

Tuck said the figures, which were given Monday to Takhini North residents at a sustainable development meeting hosted by officials from Kobayashi and Zedda Architects and the city, were not set in stone.

'These are just rough figures, they're just estimates. They could change,' Tuck said.

Tuck said the new infrastructure is necessary to accommodate future residential expansion because the current water and sewer lines going to homes are not up to city standards and are in desperate need of replacement.

The homes are war-time houses which belonged to the Government of Canada until the 1990s, and have sewage and water lines unlike the rest of the city where each home connects to the main sewer line individually.

In Takhini North, Tuck added, the lines run in series with only the first house in the series hooked up to the city's main lines.

The problem with homes connected together, he said, is that if one house in the series has a plumbing problem the rest of the homes would also have a problem.

The system, Tuck said, is old, needs replacement and does not meet city standards.

He said the $22,500 for the upgrades in Takhini North was calculated using three components: $6,500 for interior plumbing renovations; $10,500 for the plumbing from the house to the property line; and $5,500 for the residents' portion of the new roads that would be put into the neighbourhood.

The $22,500 estimate, said Tuck, represents the worst-case scenario.

The road would be built using the city's Local Improvement Charge (LIC) framework.

The city's LIC calls for one-third of the work on public property to be paid by for by residents and two-thirds to be paid by the city.

Tuck said because the estimate for the plumbing work on private property was high, he would recommend to city council to include all of the work, including the work on private property, to be paid for by the city and then collected from residents in the form of an LIC paid at the same time as property taxes over a period of 15 years.

Plumbing systems in homes in the rest of Takhini and Valleyview, Tuck said, were redone by Public Works Canada in the 1990s with Takhini North being the only subdivision left in the city with the series-type water and sewer system.

The Takhini North subdivision was sold by the Canadian government to private investors in 1998-99. The investors then put the individual homes up for sale.

In an interview this morning, Susan Rogan, who facilitated the Takhini North sales for the investors, said she felt the city's estimates given Monday to residents seemed high.

'I think $22,500 sounds like a lot of money,' she said.

Rogan said when she negotiated sales for the 82 units several years ago, rough independent estimates for the work she had collected from local companies and given to home buyers were about $6,000 for plumbing and road work, about $16,000 less the city's current estimate.

She said while she agreed construction prices have gone up since her quotes were done, she felt the estimates given to Takhini North residents on Monday were excessive.

Rogan's estimates, collected by telephone, and given to residents when the properties went up for sale, include: $750 to $1,025 for interior plumbing, $1,500 for exterior plumbing from the house to the property line and $3,700 for the residents share of the road work that would be completed by the city.

Rogan said this morning that residents should not accept the city's estimate at face value and should consider getting their own independent contractor to do the work.

'They're still paying $22,000, and they shouldn't be,' she said.

'I think that as a group they should get together, find a contractor and try to get the best price.

'I don't believe the city has the right to dictate who they're going to use or who Kobayashi and Zedda would use to do the work,' she said.

'This is private property.'

City planner Mike Ellis said the city's estimates had risen in recent years for a number of reasons.

Ellis said when the city compiled estimates for the private property plumbing work in 2004, the estimate was $5,000.

'It got bumped from $5,000 to $17,000.

'We felt the estimates from before were low on that,' he said.

Ellis said the reasons for the change in estimates were due to an increase in materials such as gravel and asphalt; a newer, more efficient plumbing design concept for outside work; and revised estimates for what the interior plumbing would cost.

'These numbers are a conservative estimate, a worst-case scenario,' he said.

He said because there was a caveat, a legal obligation, on Takhini North land titles, Takhini residents have to have the plumbing on their properties done.

Ellis said the city would have a clearer picture of what things would cost once the development process moved forward and Kobayashi and Zedda had an opportunity to work through the consultation process with area residents.

According to Kobayashi and Zedda's presentation notes from Monday, the Takhini North project will involve the construction of more than 100 units in the subdivision.

The aims of the project, the presentation states, is to preserve green space, encourage mixed-used housing options and promote sustainability.

About $2.3 million in Municipal Rural Infrastructure Funding (MRIF) funding for the project, the presentation states, will be used for work done on public property but cannot be applied to private property.

MRIF is a funding initiative which involves one-third municipal, one-third territorial and one-third federal funding contribution.

'MRIF funding has no impact on reconstruction costs and/or formulas associated with existing residential units,' the presentation states.

'The total number of new housing units to be proposed has no bearing on the infrastructure reconstruction costs necessary to service the existing Takhini North residential units.'

A development charrette for the Takhini North project is slated for January.