The city will ask federal regulators for a one-year delay on the final stage of remediation of a former landfill in Riel Park.
If the idea is accepted by regulators at a meeting next month, work would begin in the fall of 2012 and not 2011 as originally planned.
However, the city still has to figure out a way to pay for the $8-million project, which is sitting on the books as unfunded. Council asked administration to compile a report that summarizes the funding options.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said afterward that he has mixed feelings about the city’s situation.
“It feels like we have a gun to our head,” he said, adding that he’s not sure that federal officials are holding all landfills to the same standard as St. Albert’s. However, he also said he’s committed to doing a proper job.
“If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right,” he said. “There’s been a spirit of doing everything we could to do it right and do it once. That’s what I think you’re going to see here.”
The site next to the Sturgeon River is home to two former sewage lagoons that were drained and then used as dry landfills before being closed in 1986. In 2004 federal officials directed the city to address leachate that was detected seeping into the river.
The city has been working ever since to measure and control the situation, spending about $24 million to date.
The city is nearing completion of phase two of the project, which has seen redevelopment of the area occupied by the Kinsmen RV park, rodeo grounds and the BMX track.
The next stages apply to the soccer and rugby grounds. The city is looking at $5.2 million to remove the surface structure, including trees, and install a clay cap to Alberta Environment standards. It would cost a further $2.8 million to restore the soccer, rugby and cricket facilities to their current states, the city estimates.
Coun. Len Bracko was in favour of pushing forward.
“Let’s take the bull by the horns and deal with it now,” he said.
Coun. Cam MacKay felt the city should wait to see if its already-completed work has had any positive effect before spending more money. He also felt the city is placing too much weight on the opinions of hired experts over the views of local experts and facility users.
“I just think we need a second look at this before we spend the money,” he said.
Soccer and rugby officials asked the city to review its plan to determine whether it was really necessary.
Local resident John Shaw, a retired civil engineer who was a waste and sewer expert with Alberta Environment, questioned whether elevated chemical levels leaching into the river could actually be attributed to the waste underneath the soccer and rugby fields.
He also said the fields are already capped and that rugby people carefully scrutinized the digging of test holes.
“The highest we ever saw garbage was one metre down,” he said.
The layers of topsoil, subsoil and clay that Alberta Environment requires add up to a total depth of 1.95 metres.
Art Cole of Golder Associates, who has done extensive testing on the site, said there are spots on the grounds where garbage is very close to the surface.
“I could have found it with a garden trowel,” he said.
If work proceeds as planned, it would knock the fields out of commission for one full season and part of a second.
