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TO: |
Mayor and Members of Council |
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FROM: |
Alan Brown, Director of
Engineering |
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PREPARED BY: |
Lloyd Fernandes, Senior Capital
Works Engineer |
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DATE OF MEETING: |
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SUBJECT: |
GO Transit Hagerman Grade
Separation Project Update |
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RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the report entitled “GO Transit Hagerman Grade
Separation Project Update” dated
AND
THAT staff be authorized to continue negotiating
with GO Transit to reach an agreement with respect to the relocation of Town
services including cost sharing, project scheduling, conveyance of easements
and other items relating to the implementation of the project;
AND
THAT the preferred design concepts for the
relocation of Town services as presented by engineering staff at the
AND
THAT staff be authorized to finalize the preferred
design concepts with GO Transit for inclusion into the design-build contract;
AND
THAT staff report back to General Committee in the
spring of 2006 with an update on the services to be relocated, total project
costs, cost sharing, agreements, financing, any additional 2006 Capital Budget
requirements, conveyance of easements and schedule in respect to the relocation
of Town services.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this report is to update Council on the current status of the Hagerman Grade Separation project being undertaken by GO Transit and to advise of the recommended option and potential costs to relocate existing Town services which will be impacted by the proposed grade separation project.
BACKGROUND
The GO Transit Stouffville Corridor rail line
runs in a north-south direction and provides service to
In 1991, GO Transit completed a planning study of the Stouffville Corridor from
Municipalities and other operators of utility systems are required to
enter into agreements with railway companies to permit the construction of
services which cross rail lines. These agreements contain standard clauses
which require the owner of the utility to remove or relocate the services at
the owner’s sole expense if requested by the railway. The Town has a number of
municipal services which cross the GO tracks in the area of the Hagerman
Diamond including a 400 mm diameter watermain, a 250 mm diameter sanitary sewer
and a 900mm dia, storm sewer on 14th
Avenue, a 900mm dia. storm sewer located north of Denison
Street and a 1950mm dia. storm sewer located north of
Duffield Drive. The Town of
The locations of the Town’s services which will be affected by the
proposed rail line lowering are shown on Attachment “C”.
DISCUSSION
In the summer of 2002, GO Transit commenced the preparation of an
Environmental Assessment for the Hagerman Diamond Rail/Rail grade separation
project. Since 2002,
In
the spring of 2005, GO elected to proceed with the Hagerman grade separation
project as a design/build undertaking and in the late fall of last year began
soliciting proposals from design/build teams. Since the start of
November,
numerous assurances from GO in the past that servicing
relocation alternatives would be identified and evaluated by GO and solutions
acceptable to the Town would be included in the design/build package, this
review and evaluation of alternatives has not been carried out and the
design/build package does not identify acceptable relocation solutions for all
of the Town’s services. This creates the
situation where the Town may be forced to accept relocation solutions which are
not in the Town’s best interests or staff may be forced to negotiate prices for
acceptable solutions with the design/build team after the contract has been
awarded by GO. Our experience indicates that it is unlikely that favourable
prices can be negotiated under these conditions.
Given GO Transit’s refusal to undertake a detailed
assessment of servicing relocation alternatives, engineering staff has been
forced to proceed with this assessment independently. Staff had requested that
GO delay the submission of design/build proposals until such time as a detailed
assessment can be completed by the Town in approximately 3 to 4 months. GO
rejected this request but on
the closing date to
the end of January but had extended the closing date to
GO
Transit is proceeding with the design-build process without the Town having
identified preferred relocation options, and the design-build proposal will
close before these preferred relocation options have been identified. Notwithstanding GO’s
action’s,
Consultant
Services
Since early
December,
- Assembly and retention of a consultant project
team
- Field surveys and inventories of existing
systems
- Development of relocation alternatives for
all services (storm sewers, sanitary sewers and watermains)
- Assessment of the impact of each
alternative based on capital cost, maintenance costs, future risk of additional
costs to the Town and liability as it relates to operations during major storm
events.
- Review options with the Town’s Operations
and Asset Management Departments
- Provide recommendations to GO Transit for
inclusion in the design build process by
Due to the short time frame available to
complete the work, the consulting firm of McCormick Rankin Corporation has been retained under the emergency purchase
provisions of the Purchasing By-law to assist staff in completing this work. It is
estimated that the total cost of the
McCormick Rankin work will not
exceed $70,000 excluding GST ($74,000 including GST).
Project Schedule
GO has advised that the
current schedule for the project calls for the award of
‘the
design-build’ contract by February 2006 and to have the design completed within
4 months. Construction of the project is scheduled to commence in the summer of
2006 and to be completed by the end of 2007.
GO Transit Meeting
GO Transit has demonstrated a lack of timely regard
for Town issues as a part of the Hagerman Grade Separation project and a
January 17, 2006 meeting has been arranged between senior staff of GO and the
Town to discuss this matter and other issues of mutual concern including the
terms and conditions of other existing rail crossing agreements, ongoing issues
with the Anti-Whistling initiative in Markham and the Castlemore
Rail Crossing Agreement in north east Markham.
Staff will provide a verbal update of the results of the meeting.
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
As noted in preceding
sections of this report, the existing Rail Crossing Agreements require the Town
to be responsible for all costs associated with the relocation of all Town
services. The approved 2005 Capital Budget includes $25,000 for the preliminary review of
relocation alternatives and the draft 2006 Capital
Budget includes funding in the amount of $275,000 to complete the review
and evaluation of alternatives and the preparation of conceptual designs. The
draft 5 year Capital Project Plan includes additional funding in the amounts of
$500,000 in both 2007 and 2008 for construction of the servicing relocations. This
estimated construction value was based on the preliminary work completed in
2002 which indicated that a 400 mm watermain and the 1950mm dia
storm sewer would require relocation. As a part of the current design-build
proposal, GO has prepared more detailed design information regarding the
proposed track lowering and engineering staff have carried out a detailed
inventory of existing services in the area. This work has identified that in
addition to the large diameter storm sewer and watermain previously identified,
a sanitary sewer and two additional storm sewers will also require relocation.
Based on information which has been developed to date as a part of the Town’s detailed
assessment of servicing relocation alternatives, the total cost of carrying out all of the
required relocations is more likely in the $3 to $6.0 million range, all of
which would require tax/water rate funding unless cost sharing arrangements can
be negotiated with GO transit. Detailed
estimates will be produced as a part of the alternative evaluation process and
will be a component in the selection of a preferred option.
The total cost to the Town of
the servicing relocations will be determined once the preferred relocation
option has been identified, the detailed design of this option completed,
detailed costing has been received from the design-build team and negotiations with GO Transit regarding
potential cost sharing have been concluded. Given the construction of the
project is not scheduled to commence until the summer of 2006, it is unlikely
that the value of any Town works carried out in 2006 will exceed the value of
the funding included in the 2005 and 2006 Capital Budgets. Staff will report
back to Council in the spring of 2006 with details of the final Town costs and
the need to include additional funding in the 2007 Capital budget. GO has
indicated that they would consider providing front-end financing for all or a
portion of the Town costs if requested.
BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:
The Finance Department has reviewed this report
and their comments have been incorporated.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment “A” – Location Plan
Attachment “B” – Track Lowering Details
Attachment “C” – Existing Services
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Alan Brown, C.E.T. Director of |
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Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P. Commissioner of Development Services |
Q:\Development\