COCHRANE— Site work at the Cochrane Transit Hub and Innovation Centre has unearthed contamination that will require up to $800,000 in remediation.
The Town faces an “unfortunate reality” with the emerging contamination sites at the Transit Hub and Innovation Centre site, said Town of Cochrane CAO Mike Derricott.
“This really comes down to the very natural reality that anytime you dig a hole you’re just never quite sure what you are going to find,” Derricott said. “As much due diligence as you can do sometimes you strike gold and sometimes you find stuff that is much less valuable than that. Unfortunately, that’s the case here.”
Derricott said the remediation is a necessary cost for the project to move forward. It is not expected to impact the timeline of the Transit Hub's construction.
Council approved a Capital Project of up to $800,000 for remediation of the Transit Hub site to address immediate remediation efforts estimated at $500,000, and an additional $300,000 for further site investigation and potential remediation at the site.
The funding has been allocated from the Municipal Sustainability Initiative Capital Grant.
Derricott said the contamination at the site is hydrocarbons associated with fuel sites and an investigation is ongoing. At this time there is no reason to believe the contamination has spread outside the Transit Hub property.
Administration immediately notified Alberta Environment of the contamination and have been working with Environmental Engineers onsite to properly document, test, monitor and remove any contaminated material from the site. Administration has also been working to determine the complete scope of the remediation work required.
During preliminary onsite excavations, crews uncovered a significant area of contamination and the Town has been working to respond to this unexpected discovery. These remediation efforts were not included in the approved budget for the project.
“We felt both due to the scale and the nature of the remediation work required that the contingency fund was not going to be able to sustain that,” Derricott said. He added the contingency funds on the Transit Hub are already under strain due to the escalating cost of materials.
Derricott said because the site used to be a bulk fuel station the Town recognized the potential for hydrocarbon contamination prior to construction.
“Despite the fact due diligence was done in terms of the Phase Two Environmental Assessment that was peer-reviewed on our behalf, unfortunately, those reports don’t always capture all the potential contamination,” Derricott said.
Under the environmental study about a dozen holes were drilled from various locations at the site to test the soil for contamination. In the case of the Transit Hub the study did not capture where the bulk of contamination has been found, Derricott said.
He added now that the contamination has been discovered it is a liability the Town faces and it will be required to deal with it financially.
He said there is no immediate risk to the public and air quality monitoring is being conducted by the Town during the remediation.
“The dice didn’t roll in our favour in this circumstance,” Derricott said. “We are being conservative in our estimates here, both as we’ve reviewed what we know about the site in terms of the location of the holding tanks etc. and what we’ve found so far that we hope … That the remaining site will be less or even potentially free from contamination.”
While it is unfortunate the expense of $800,000 is required, said Councillor Morgan Nagel, the Town has been left with few options.
Even with the additional cost, the Transit Hub remains the right move for the Town, Nagel said. He added it will transform what was once a barren and empty site into a community hub in the Historic downtown.
“It’s a problem we have to deal with,” Nagel said. “There was due diligence done on the site with an environmental study.”
Mayor Jeff Genung said a silver lining that can be found in the discovery is the Town can take the lead on the cleanup of the space.
“We do have an issue. We do have to deal with it,” Genung said. “This is an important and key property in our community … At the end of the day, it will end up being a clearer site. I don’t see any other option.”
