Cost escalations for the remediation of Riel Park were the result of hidden dangers in the former landfill site, a white-hot economy and a shifting project scope.
That’s the message St. Albert city council heard Monday as city administration provided a historical report into the ongoing project, now pegged to cost $32.1 million after initial estimates put it at $8.4 million.
The Riel situation began in 2004 when the city received an inspector’s direction from Environment Canada indicating the Sturgeon River was in danger from leachate coming from a former landfill in Riel Park, where the rugby fields and RV park are now located.
The city determined capping and grading the site would be the most cost-effective and least disruptive solution. The landfill remediation and recreation project has since spanned years and resulted in several cost overruns during the first two phases of work.
The latest escalation, reported this June, prompted council to strike a committee and freeze funding for the next two phases pending Monday’s report.
Coun. Gareth Jones asked how solid the latest estimate of $32 million is.
“We are very confident in those numbers,” said capital projects manager Tracy Allen.
The latest figure represents the costs through the first four phases. Phases one and two are about two-thirds complete, so their costs are largely known, Allen said. Phases three and four are 95 per cent planned, so city officials are confident that cost projections are accurate for those phases, Allen said.
Jones suggested that the shifting nature of the project and the problems encountered are confusing for residents to understand.
“All they hear is how costs are going up, going up,” he said.
In the end, he refused to accept administration’s report, saying the figures in its presentation didn’t match those in the council agenda.
Council heard that the project has been an ongoing source of surprise for city staff. For example, there was nothing about the site to suggest it might contain methane, but city staff tested for it anyway just to be thorough. They found methane in scattered pockets, said environment manager Leah Jackson.
At one point in 2008 when the city was tendering work, inflation in some of the construction trades was running at five per cent a month, said Allen.
“I don’t think anybody is proud of how much money this has cost us but we have an environmental responsibility to clean it up,” said Coun. James Burrows. “I don’t want to see any more leachate going into Big Lake.”
The city was a victim of the hottest economy of the last 25 years and the unknowns that go with remediating a landfill site, he said.
“Anytime you’re going to fix a landfill area, you just don’t know what you’re dealing with,” he said. “It’s really sad that this has happened but I really think it’s absolutely necessary that we fix it.”
Lynda Flannery of the St. Albert Taxpayers’ Association tore into council and administration for the cost escalations.
“Who’s been minding the store as these costs have skyrocketed?” she asked. “Why hasn’t council been provided with the full picture earlier so they could have said no, we can’t afford this any longer?”
Flannery noted that estimates for site remediation have risen from $1.4 million to $14 million and facilities replacement has gone from $7 million to $17.6 million.
“This is an area that council could have directly controlled but chose not to, continuing with St. Albert only wants the best,” she said.
“Your taxpayers cannot afford this type of unrealistic spending,” she concluded. “This is unacceptable.”
