DEVELOPMENT SERVICES COMMITTEE

 

 

 

 

 

TO:

Mayor and Members of Council

 

 

 

 

FROM:

Alan Brown, Director of Engineering

 

 

 

 

PREPARED BY:

Simon Hung, Capital Works Engineer

Allan Arbuckle, Manager of Infrastructure & Capital Works

 

 

 

 

DATE OF MEETING:

January 24, 2006

 

 

 

 

SUBJECT:

Status Report on the 14th Avenue Watermain Construction Project

 

 

 

 

RECOMMENDATION:

 

THAT report entitled “Status Report on the 14th Avenue Watermain Construction Project” dated January 24, 2006 be received;

 

AND THAT the Mayor and Clerk to be authorized to enter into agreements with CN Rail, Hydro One and other external agencies as may be required to implement the construction of the 14th Avenue watermain project subject to the approval of the CAO and the Town Solicitor;

 

AND THAT the Mayor and Clerk to be authorized to enter into agreements to acquire easements as may be required to implement the construction of the 14th Avenue watermain project subject to the approval of the CAO and the Town Solicitor;

 

AND THAT in the event that staff are unable to come to an agreement with the property owners for the acquisition of the required easements, staff be authorized to apply for approval to expropriate easements on the lands;

 

AND THAT an exemption to the Town’s Noise Control By-law # 218-86 be approved to allow construction of the watermain between Middlefield Road and Markham Road to proceed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from May 1 to December 31, 2006 subject to traffic operations restrictions;

 

AND THAT staff report back to Council with respect to including these and other increased costs in updates to the existing development charge by-laws;

 

AND THAT the Finance and Engineering Departments report back to Council on the impact of this project and other Engineering capital projects funded from Development Charges on projected debt financing requirements;

 

AND THAT staff be authorized and directed to do all things necessary to give effect to these recommendations.

 

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to update Council on the status of the 14th Avenue watermain project and to obtain authorization to enter into Agreements with external agencies and obtain easements from adjacent property owners as required to implement the project.

 

BACKGROUND:

The Master Servicing Study undertaken to define the servicing infrastructure improvements required to support development of the Town’s urban expansion areas identified the need to construct a new trunk watermain on 14th Avenue between McCowan Road and Markham Road to service the east Markham area. Further investigations carried out as part of the servicing studies for the Boxgrove Secondary Plan area identified the need to extend the watermain easterly to Boxwood Crescent (refer to Attachment A). The project will involve the construction of approximately 2,200 metres of 600 mm diameter watermain, 1,000 metres of 400mm diameter watermain, the construction of a tunnel under the CN rail line west of Markham Road and valves, chambers and other appurtenances.

 

In October of 2004, the Town retained the consulting firm of Trow Consulting Engineers Limited to prepare the detailed design of the project. The design has now been completed and all approvals have either been received or expected to be in place by the end of January. The construction contract is scheduled to be tendered in early February of this year subject to receipt of necessary easements.

 

DISCUSSION:

Property Requirements

As a general design principle, watermains are to be constructed within the boulevard in order to minimize the cost of work and disruption to traffic.  On the 14th Avenue project, there are several areas where the boulevard is too narrow or too congested with services and utilities and therefore the watermain must be constructed in the pavement or in easements located outside of the municipal road allowance. 

 

One temporary and four permanent easements are required to accommodate the new watermain (refer to Attachment A).  The temporary easement, for working purposes only, is located within the hydro corridor owned by Hydro One and the Province of Ontario on the east side of Markham Road.  One of the permanent easement is owned by a York Catholic School Board and the other three easements are on private properties.  One of the easement on private lands has been obtained through the site plan application process and the other two must be acquired either through negotiation or expropriation. Preliminary negotiations have taken place and staff is requesting authorization to complete these negotiations and for the Mayor and Clerk to execute agreements with all affected landowners to acquire the required lands subject to the approval of the agreements by the CAO and Town Solicitor, failing which expropriation proceedings should be commenced.

 

 

Noise Bylaw Exemption

Due to space constraints on the boulevards in the area between Middlefield Road and Markham Road, approximately 500 metres of watermain must be constructed within the driving surface of 14th Avenue which is under the jurisdiction of the Region of York. Lane closures on regional roads during peak traffic hours are not permitted by the Region and it will therefore be necessary to work overnight and on weekends to complete the watermain installation. The normal working hours permitted under the Town’s Noise Control By-law #218-86 is 0700 hours to 1900 hours Monday to Saturday and therefore an exemption to the Bylaw is required to allow overnight and weekend work. The exemption is required at this time so that staff can define the working hours in the pending tender.   Extended hours would reduce the duration of the project and the corresponding impact on traffic in the area. The exact schedule and duration of the extended work hours will be determined as part of the tender and staff will report back to Council with this information as a part of the tender award report.

. 

CN Rail Agreement

The watermain must cross the CN Rail line located west of Markham Road as per the Key Plan on Attachment ‘A’. CN Rail has reviewed and approved the design of the rail crossing and a draft Pipe Crossing Agreement has been prepared. Staff is requesting authorization for the Mayor and Clerk to execute this Agreement subject to the approval of the Agreement by the CAO and Town Solicitor.  Some of the key conditions of the CN agreement are listed below.

Ø      A fee of $1,850 plus GST is required before approval can be obtained.

Ø      CN requires that purchase order in the amount of $25,000 be issued to the Railway to cover costs associated with the review, approval, construction coordination and approximately 23 days of flagging protection.  Additional purchase authority may be required if necessary.

Ø      The Town and Contractor must sign CN’s “Release of Liability and Permit”.

Ø      Contractor will be required to provide proof of insurance (minimum $10,000,000) before construction begins.

Ø      A complete Geotechnical Investigation including comments and recommendations with respect to construction methodology shall be provided.

Ø      Settlement monitoring is required.

Ø      The Town will be responsible for the cost of any track maintenance due to settlement of track or other problems that may occur as a result of the work, for a period of one year.

Ø      CN has the right to request that the works be removed, relocated or modified for the purposes of repair or improvement.  The watermain is 5 to 6 metres below the existing ground elevation and 11 metres below the elevated rail tracks.  It is unlikely that any repair or improvement to the rail will impact the watermain and the risk of removal, relocation or modification is minimal at this location.

 

Project Schedule

The current schedule, subject to the receipt of the easements includes the tendering of the project in February 2006, the award of the tender in March with construction to start in May and to be completed by the end of the year.

 

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

The update estimate cost for this project including the property acquisition costs is as follows:

 

Item

Cost excluding GST

Construction Cost        

$4,900,000

Construction Contingency Allowance

$490,000

Professional Fees incl. design, construction inspection & contract administration fees

$470,000

Property Acquisition

$300,000

Engineering Department Project Management Fee @ 4 %

$246,400

Total Estimated Project Cost

$6,406,400

 

The approved 2005 Capital Budget includes a total of $2.2 million for the project with $5.0 million included in the draft 2006 Capital Budget.  The following factors contributed to the increase in cost.

Ø      After investigation of ground conditions and the watermain location Concrete Pressure Pipe is to be utilized rather than other cheaper materials such as PVC or ductile iron.

Ø      Approximately 1000 metres of the 600mm diameter watermain is about 5 metres deep to avoid existing sewers, watermain and utilities.  The balance of the watermain is at 2 to 2.5 metres cover (Minimum cover is 1.75 metres).

Ø      Approximately 500 metres of the watermain will be constructed within the pavement due to the lack of boulevard space.  Additional costs are involved for the traffic management and restoration of the pavement. 

Ø      The restriction to work during the normal hours within the pavement will result in higher premium for non-standard work hours or weekend works.

Ø      The acquisition of temporary and permanent easements.

Ø      The 115 metres long and 5 metres deep tunnel under CN Rail and Markham Road is estimated to cost $500,000.

 

The project is to be funded entirely from Area Specific Development Charges (primarily Boxgrove plus other secondary plans) and is included in their existing Development Charge Bylaws in the amount of $ 2,816,925. The additional required funded estimated as approximately $3.6 million will be included in the updated Development Charge Background Study proposed to be undertaken in 2006. 

 

The Finance and Engineering Departments will report back to Council on the impact of this project and other Engineering capital projects funded from Development Charges on projected debt financing requirements.

 

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

The Legal and Finance Departments have reviewed this report and their comments have been included.

 

Attachment A – Key Plan and Property Requirement

 

 

 

 

Alan Brown, C.E.T.

Director of Engineering

 

Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.

Commissioner of Development Services