Expressway Implementation Committee
May 29, 2006
Scheduled time: 2:30 pm. Start time: 2:47 pm. Adjournment: 3:35 pm.

Present : Bruckler [chair], Pearson, Braden, Mitchell, Merulla (left at 3:16 ); Jackson (arrived at 2:50 and left at 3:23 ). Collins (arrived at 2:54 )

No changes to the agenda [agenda not posted on the city's website]

Presentation by Eric Gillespie, lawyer for the Red Hill Valley Neighbourhoods Association.

Eric Gillespie : Begins by thanking committee and staff for chance to speak. Invitation received in March "and we very much welcome the opportunity to start what we hope will be a constructive dialogue between the association. .. Where we thought there would be some good opportunities to develop some constructive dialogue and move forward is by addressing first and foremost the issue of air quality. I think of all the issues that's probably the one that from the neighbourhood association's point of view is one of the most central because clearly it has impacts in a number of different areas in terms of people's health as well as issues related to how the parkway project is going to function . what we have come today to ask this committee to consider is a recommendation to implement some baseline air quality monitoring at one location.

As the committee is well aware, the expressway winds it's way through the entire Red Hill corridor but the Elizabeth Bagshaw School in particular is one of the sites that based on some of the expert opinion we've been receiving from other people is clearly one of the areas where because of the nature of the receptors - children - and the proximity of that location to the project, that based on even what is known today, there are I think concerns about how the expressway project is going to function once it's actually up and running. . the projected start time for the actual use of the expressway is sometime in the fall of 2007. As a result if there's going to any opportunity to develop a full annual recording of baseline information regarding air quality in all four seasons, that's going to have to be implemented essentially right way - within the next few weeks, if not the next couple of months. Otherwise we're going to be in a situation where it's simply not going to be possible to have information about the current conditions, to be able to look at that once the expressway is functioning.

In that regard, we have been working with Dr David Pengelly . who previously has been associated with the environmental sciences faculty and institute at McMaster University . And he has been giving us some information as to what type of monitoring would be appropriate, and more specifically he is recommending looking at particulate matter in the PM 2.5 range as well as Nitrogen Dioxide levels.

Today we would ask this committee to very carefully consider implementing ongoing monitoring starting as soon as possible so that we have a full annual cycle of data, and the Red Hill Valley Neighbourhoods Association would be more than pleased to facilitate Dr Pengelly's working with whom whoever the committee believes is the appropriate person or parties within the city and its consultants in terms of specifically how that testing should be conducted, what type of equipment, the frequency, and those types of things.

Given the overall size and scope of this project, the association believes this is a constructive proposal, a relatively-speaking very inexpensive proposal, but a critical component of ensuring that some of the fundamental concerns of residents in these areas are going to be addressed.

The second recommendation, and the only other recommendation that we wanted to bring to the committee today, is an attempt to deal with the broader range of concerns that are out there. .. Some of them are related to noise, some of them are related to the dust from the construction process, some of them are related to the potential impact on property values. All of those and other concerns I appreciate that the committee has been familiar with them and in various ways has been attempting to address them.

At the same time, I think it's fair to say from the association's point of view, this still remains a very challenging area that the association is getting feedback from its membership and other members of those neighbourhoods that there still appear to be some opportunities to move forward - again in a constructive manner - to try and address those types of concerns.

So specifically, what the association would like to propose as its second recommendation is that the city implement a committee similar to the committee established for the Rennie Street landfill, known as the Community Liaison Committee, or CLC. . That particular committee was formed to address issues obviously relating to the Rennie Street landfill. Its membership did include three members of the Red Hill Valley Neighbourhoods Association. Obviously they weren't on that committee in that capacity, but they clearly had the first hand experience of seeing that committee form and do its work and see quite frankly very positive beneifts come out of that process.

The committee is supported in that case, the Rennie one, by a technical expert, a hydrogeologist, because that was the specific discipline required in order to address that. And the hydrogeologist was speaking and advising the committee itself to provide some independent peer review relating to the landfill. As with any project of that nature there were obviously controversial issues that came up, but the committee really did seem to facilitate much more constructive resolutions to the issues that came forward. And I think it's fair to say that the Red Hill Valley Neighbourhoods Association very much supports that as a model for how to address community concerns.

What it would give is a forum, that rather than sort of the one-on-one types of interactions that occur right now, you'd have a more structured approach. And particularly as time moves forward, it seems clear to the neighbourhoods association that there is going to be a larger level of interest from people right in the immediate corridor, simply because the existence of the expressway becomes more real every day and eventually the operation of the expressway is going to become very real. And establishing a community liaison committee with membership hopefully comprised of some people associated with RHVNA, but certainly other members of the community being invited, city staff potentially having some role.

Nobody is coming forward saying it has to be this or this, but simply saying using that as a model and perhaps having Ms Leppard who is your independent liaison person already act as the facilitator for that committee. There seems to be a fair amount of structure already in place to potentially facilitate this. The terms of reference for that committee would obviously have to be developed, and that would largely be in the hands of this committee, but at the same time RHVNA would appreciate the opportunity to then speak to those types of issues and we see the CLC model as something that really will provide a more efficient and more effective way of addressing some of the concerns that these communities or neighbourhood associations believe are just going to be an ongoing feature of a project of this nature. ..

"We would ask this committee to very carefully consider those two recommendations. We believe that they present the most constructive way to try to address some of the concerns that remain - not just with RHVNA and its membership but with the community as a whole that's going to be affected by the expressway project.."

..

[29:00] Collins : ".I thought we were through that early on in our term in regards to a CLC. And I thought Chris had given us an update and the whole reason and rationale for an implementation committee that we have here, my motion last term was in fact to deal with some of the issues like the dust, noise, odours and things like that. So maybe we can have Chris report back. I know it's been almost a year since he reported on the concept of a CLC, so if we can have him report back on the whole history of where we have been with CLCs and the reason and rationale for the implementation committee. We might be able to put into context for a better debate at the next meeting. If I could request that." Accepted as direction to staff. ...

Chris Murray : "Construction update. As you're aware, Mr Chairman, the tender for the paving contract closed, and a review of the bids was made, and the lowest acceptable bid is from LaFarge and its to the tune of $30.9 million and that includes GST as well as $2 million contingency. It is a high amount of money. Our situation right now is that we need to bring a report back to council to discuss the awarding of this contract. The situation is not so much an overall budget situation as it is a cash flow situation. And by that I mean we've tied up millions of dollars in the other contracts which are already being implemented. We've tied up millions of dollars in contingencies. Those contingencies are being managed. We have a sizeable amount of money that we will roll into this final phase of work, but at this point in time, in the way our purchasing rules work, unless we have that cash in hand at some point which we award the contract, we can't. So we will be bringing forward a report which will sum up all works that are required to complete the Red Hill Valley project - not just the paving but we'll talk about the restoration work and all other items, so that we can give you a very up-to-date, full, comprehensive picture of what's left to do, what it's worth, and where our revenues are coming from to pay for all that. So certainly there's money in hand in our budget. We are owed money by the Ministry of Transportation with respect to properties that were purchased some time ago which they're going to be compensating us for. As well as I say we have fairly sizeable contingencies which to this point in time certainly have been properly managed and those dollars can roll back into the completion of this project. As it stands right now we need to provide you with a full picture."

Bruckler [chair] : "Councillor Collins, councillor Braden."

Collins : "Just to get that cleared up. So the contract for the asphalt came in over budget but if you include all the areas where we're under, we're going to be even? Or are we slightly above, slightly less, or so we're still calculating that?" Murray : "We're still calculating but we're pretty close to the mark. But again it's understanding that a reasonable amount of our contingencies will roll back into the project. And we as you know have ongoing conversations with MTO. The monies for properties, for example, at the Nash Brampton areas - these were lands that we purchased on their behalf in the late 1990s. They'll be compensating us for those properties with interest, so we need to roll that into the overall financial picture. As well as lands that are being utilized down at the QEW, right immediately adjacent to the QEW, which are lands that we own. They owe us for that land as well, so that has to be rolled in. As well as we fully expect the Ministry of Transportation to participate in our landscaping or ecological restoration work. So details as to that agreement need to be communicated. So it's a bunch of pieces that we have to I think show you in their totality so you understand exactly where we're at with respect to the overall budget, what's left to be completed, and where that money's coming from to pay for it all. And when."

Collins : "And so we established part of a 2006 capital budget for the expressway, parkway, allotment. Are you saying then Chris that we're short on that in terms of what we set aside for 2006, but in the grand scheme of things we're still on track?" Murray : "Essentially, through you Mr Chairman. The 429 is what we're keeping our eye on. That's where we want to land everything on. We need to go in light of - and I mean it's a bit of a broken record, not just for Red Hill but every one else I think in terms of the world energy issue. When we pegged the final to complete the project, it was late last summer in time for our budgetting process. We have seen some escalation you know in the basic petroleum costs of the project. So what we're dealing with is as much asphalt as it is cement in a project like this. It doesn't take too many percentages to see that price rise above what we were hoping was going to be the case. Nonetheless, I don't think at this point in time we're talking about anything in terms of a significant increase to our budget overall. What we're looking at really in essence the cash flowing of it." [41:29]

Braden : "What was the projected cost of paving? It's now $30 million plus." Murray : "Right. The new - we're over - the budget here is about $4 million higher than what we thought we'd come at when we looked at late summer last year." Braden : "So 15% or something like that, and that's all right as far as you're concerned?" Murray : "It's what the market will bear. I mean it's one of these situations where we follow normal tendering practices and the market tells us what exactly to do the work for." Braden : "This is facetious. We all know the price of energy's too high, right, and it's going to come down. I think we should just wait a bit and there's going to be some real steals." Bruckler : "And you heard it here first."

Brief update from Sally Leppard from LURA Consulting. Has fielded about 12 calls over the past five months, mainly about wildlife. Request to open the expressway early "for a cycle race or run for charity".

Bruckler asks for report on noise mitigation property. Mike Marini : ".we have at this time 5 properties who are complete under this program . we have two right now that are undertaking work and one who is prepared to go forward. . We continue with the program and unfortunately at this time we didn't have enough time to put it on the agenda, but there should be three homes, two or three homes coming to the next meeting that require the attention of this committee." Bruckler : "Not the numbers we might be looking for, but at least we're moving forward, right? Good."

Tour being planned for committee members of the valley. Murray : "We had a tour, I believe it was last year, and significant progress has been made since that time .." Murray will coordinate tour with members of the committee.

Pearson : "Is it perception that the bridges being constructed over the exit ramp on the QE, four O, QEW, going to Centennial Parkway . There's two bridges there. Is the perception that they're very low? Is there a reason that they look like they're very very low when you drive under them?" Murray : "First of all. those works are under the direction of the Ministry of Transportation. So any design work, any construction that's going on there is within their responsibilities. As you mentioned councillor, I think that perception has been expressed in the past, but again these are all stamped designs and they've been vetted through their structural staff at Ministry of Transportation. So if they're low, they've got a problem." Bruckler : "Or the truckers do." Murray : Well, I'm sure they'll get under them. Pretty confident in MTO."

Adjournment.