WESTLOCK - A portion of remaining underground work on the $7.3-million 108th Street project which started in 2021 has been deleted in order to finish the stretch in 2023, a change Town of Westlock CAO Simone Wiley says is a result of “the negotiations we’re still in with Imperial Oil.”
Following an hour-long special meeting held behind closed doors Aug. 17, town councillors agreed to “direct administration to reduce the scope of capital item DPC 30-10; 108 Street Industrial Corridor Rejuvenation Project to stay within the original budget.”
While some work on the stretch has been done this year, including landscaping and asphalt, Wiley said around $300,000 worth of water and sewer upgrades will not be done — $713,164 had been included in this year’s capital budget and will be rolled into 2023.
“We wanted to have certainty and direction in order to move the project forward, so that was the outcome of the (special) meeting,” said Wiley Aug. 18.
Wiley went on to explain that town operations director Robin Benoit had done some investigation into the eastern portion of the stretch and “was under the impression that that portion and just that portion had been done in the last two decades.”
“We don’t know exactly when, but it is in much better shape than the portion that we have already done. So, the intent there, regardless of the contamination that we encountered and the cost we incurred, was to look at that portion of the underground to see if it could be relined versus actually having to replace it,” she explained.
“That work was done, and it was determined that the water and sewer in that area could be relined, with the exception of one portion that has been collapsed which we can do a repair on. So, I don't think this change is a disappointment at all, I think it’s an efficiency. We looked at the project scope again and tried to find efficiencies in how we were doing it. This is another great example of my staff looking out for the interests of the taxpayers. If we can achieve the same end result for a lower cost, then that’s what we’re going to do.”
At the end of March, Wiley told council the remainder of the project wouldn’t proceed in 2022 as there wouldn’t “be enough time between finishing the negotiations with Imperial Oil, finding out where that leaves us financially and then going ahead and getting into the contractor’s schedule.”
The history of the project
Although the contractor had initially hoped to have the job completed in 2021, there were numerous delays throughout.
The project, which started April 6, 2021, was to include a fresh asphalt overlay, new curbs, gutters and sidewalks, as well as a new storm sewer line, sanitary sewer line and sanitary water line for the entire stretch.
But soon after it started, the project stalled following the discovery of “heavy concentrations of hydrocarbons” from a long-since shuttered Imperial Oil fuel site, which is located about two lots west of where 98th Avenue begins. Decommissioned in 1987, the location previously housed an Imperial Oil office, tanks and a warehouse.
To deal with the pollution, tons of contaminated soil had to be trucked away, while a plastic liner was installed underground to contain any possible further seepage — work started at the end of last May and wrapped before Canada Day 2021.
Imperial Oil, the owners of the 300-by-94-foot lot on the southern side of 108th Street in Whissellville from where the contamination emanated, were being billed for the clean-up and had been invoiced $782,498.31 as of June 2021.
Wiley declined comment when asked Aug. 18 if Imperial has been invoiced for more of those costs —an initial estimate was pegged at $1.6 million and last June councillors voted unanimously to amend the 2021 capital budget to add $1.6 million for that work.
“Negotiations are still ongoing. I prefer not to say more at this point, but I expect we’ll be able to release more information soon,” said Wiley.
At council’s mid-August 2021 meeting, Benoit said that aside from the contamination there were supply-chain issues, ranging from a shortage of copper piping to concrete powder, to problems with “as-built” drawings that didn’t correspond with what was underground. Work on the stretch also forced the closure of the bulk water station, which was temporarily moved to the town’s public works shop, then eventually reopened.
When crews left the site in the fall of 2021, about 80 per cent of the job was done although the road was totally open and much had received fresh asphalt.
Province and Imperial say there’s no health risks
Imperial’s public and government affairs manager said in a July 2021 e-mail that their environmental consultants had conducted site assessments over the years and the data collected “does not indicate a risk to public health and safety, or the environment associated with Imperial’s past operations.”
The north side of 108th Street, heading east from 97th Avenue to 98th Avenue, includes an apartment building, plus the backyards of homes, while the CN Rail line runs parallel to the entire length of 108th Street.
Alberta Environment and Parks confirmed a similar assessment regarding risk to residences in the Whissellville area, stating in a July 5, 2021, e-mail that contamination limits had been defined on the north side of the roadway and “are not expected to cause concern or issue to nearby residential properties” and that they’ll “work with Imperial Oil to ensure the contamination is appropriately managed until remediated.”
Imperial didn’t have a timetable for reclaiming the site and said last summer that their consultants sampled the ground within the utility corridor in proximity to their property and “any soil that did not meet Alberta’s standard was disposed of at an approved disposal facility at Imperial’s cost.”
While a 2018 groundwater monitoring and sampling report provided by AEP notes elevated levels of Benzene at at least two groundwater sampling bore holes on Imperial’s land, the company spokesperson noted that since the site is vacant, they have “no concerns related to Benzene on the property.” According to the same report other chemicals tested for and found on and around the site within acceptable AEP limits included Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylenes.
