BC Hydro halts community's painted poles art project

An annual community art project in a Victoria, B.C., neighbourhood is coming to an end after BC Hydro cited concerns about how the event affects its utility poles. 

Fernwood has become renowned for its painted hydro poles, and the annual painting event in September has brought out children and adults alike for the past 11 years. 

But this year there was no event because BC Hydro, who owns the poles, ruled out painting them due to safety concerns.

Beth Threlfall, a visual arts instructor who started the project back in 2008, said the decision surprised her.

"We always figured we were doing what was best for the pole," Threlfall said, who added that community members would remove nails and use high-quality paint.

"This whole new evolution of reasoning that it's damaging the pole was a bit of a surprise to me."

Ted Olynyk, community relations manager for BC Hydro, said there were a few reasons that the utility put a stop to the painting.

"When you paint the pole, you could be covering over defects that are in the pole that we need to be aware of so we can properly maintain our equipment," Olynyk said. 

In addition, he said, poles are porous and need at least some sort of strip around the bottom left clear of paint to let water escape. 

Finally, he said, there were some complaints from residents who didn't like the art. 

Threlfall said the project was started to revitalize and bring colour to the neighbourhood. Along the way, it became an expression of the neighbourhood's identity.

"There's pieces of poetry, of pets that have gone," she said.

"It's more than just beautification, it's telling everybody that visits our neighbourhood what we care about as people."

The painting event itself became a chance for people to connect. 

"People would come out and paint their poles and give other people opportunities to come up and say hello to a stranger," she said. "I think that's a loss."

The BC Hydro painting ban extends provincewide, but all poles that are currently painted will remain untouched unless a resident specifically complains about them. 

In the meantime, Threlfall says the neighbourhood will find other ways to connect. 

"There's always a creative solution for everything and when you use your imagination you can change lots of things to the positive," she said.