Attachment 1
Location Plan
|
1. HIGHWAY 7
Expansion from HIGHWAY 417 to Ashton Station Road - ÉLARGISSEMENT DE LA ROUTE 7 DE L'AUTOROUTE 417 AU CHEMIN ASHTON |
Committee Recommendation
That Council
accept the transfer of 5 service roads being created by the Ontario Ministry of
Transportation as part of the widening of Highway 7 between Highway 417 and
Ashton Station Road and that the transfer take place at the time of the
completion of construction.
Recommandation du comité
Que le Conseil accepte le transfert de la responsabilité de 5 chemins de
desserte créés par le ministère des Transports à l’occasion de l’élargissement
de la route 7 entre l’autoroute 417 et le chemin Ashton Station, ce transfert
devant avoir lieu à l’achèvement des travaux.
Documentation
1. Deputy City Manager’s report (Public Works
and Services) dated 22 July 2008 (ACS2008-PWS-INF-0010).
2. Extract of Draft Minute, 3 September 2008.
Comité des transports
and Council / et au Conseil
22 July 2008 / le 22 juillet 2008
Submitted by/Soumis par : R.G. Hewitt,
Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal
adjoint,
Public Works and Services/Services
et Travaux publics
Contact Person/Personne ressource : W.R. Newell, Director,
Infrastructure
Services / Infrastructure Services/Services d’infrastructure
(613)
580-2424 x 16002, wayne.newell@ottawa.ca
That Transportation Committee recommend Council accept the transfer of 5 service roads being created by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation as part of the widening of Highway 7 between Highway 417 and Ashton Station Road and that the transfer take place at the time of the completion of construction.
Que le Comité des
transports recommande au Conseil d’accepter le transfert de la responsabilité
de 5 chemins de desserte créés par le ministère des Transports à l’occasion de
l’élargissement de la route 7 entre l’autoroute 417 et le chemin Ashton
Station, ce transfert devant avoir lieu à l’achèvement des travaux.
The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) is undertaking the widening of Highway 7 from 2 lanes to 4 lanes. The limits within the City of Ottawa extend between Highway 417 and Ashton Station Road. The widening of Highway 7 includes the construction of 5 service roads within the City of Ottawa (see attached location plan). The widening is proceeding in 2 phases with the following resulting service roads:
Phase 1 - Highway 417 to west of Jinkinson Road - Completion June 2008
Phase 2 – west of Jinkinson Road to west of Ashton Station Road -
Completion Fall 2010
With Phase 1 complete and Phase 2 underway, the Ministry is seeking a Council Resolution stating that the City of Ottawa agrees to accept the transfer of the 5 service roads at the time of completion of construction. The Ministry will then proceed with the transfer by Order-in-Council.
This widening project has been under consideration by the Ministry since the early 1990s. During the Ministry’s Preliminary Design and Detail Design phases (spanning from 1993 to 2007), consultation took place with the former Township of Goulbourn and the City of Ottawa regarding the Ministry’s plans to widen Highway 7 and construct 5 service roads. The City has supported this project and the future transfer of service roads. To that end, the former Township of Goulbourn passed a Council Resolution in 1993 supporting the Ministry’s proposed preliminary design.
The purpose of the new service roads is to connect properties and existing City roads that will have their accesses interrupted as a result of the widening project. The service roads are to be constructed to City standards and paved. The creation of the service roads will add 12.54 km to the City’s road network – 7.45 km as part of Phase 1 and 5.09 km as part of Phase 2. When ownership has been transferred to the City, these service roads will increase operating and capital expenditures related to the maintenance of these roads. Street naming requirements are also being addressed by the City.
There is a section of service road located between the cul-de-sac east of the Canadian Golf and County Club and Jinkinson Road that remains to be completed. The Environmental Assessment (EA) study for this section was completed in November 2005. The EA is currently subject to Part II Order (bump-up) request. Discussions are ongoing between the City and MTO on funding and implementation.
This project is led by MTO and they have undertaken public consultation as part of the Highway 7 widening project. Consultation related to this report has been limited to City departments that are impacted by the addition of the service roads.
This report has no 2008 budget or tax implications since additional costs in 2008 will be absorbed within the current approved 2008 operating budgets for the Surface Operations and Traffic and Parking Operations Branches.
The following financial implications related to the service roads to be created as part of Phase 1 will be identified as 2009 budget pressures and will be included in the 2009 Draft Operating Budget as follows:
Additional costs of approximately $80,000 and $13,000 associated with Phase 2 service roads will be identified as 2010 budget pressures and included in the 2010 Draft Operating Budget of the Surface Operations and Traffic and Parking Operations Branches respectively.
The capital funding requirements for lifecycle renewal of these service roads will be added to the Long Range Financial Plan.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Attachment 1 – Location Plan
Public Works and Services will maintain the service roads when construction is completed and ownership has been transferred to the City.
Planning, Transit and the Environment will proceed with street name changes for the service roads.
Attachment 1
Location Plan
HIGHWAY 7 Expansion from HIGHWAY 417 to Ashton Station Road -
Transfer of Service Roads to the City of Ottawa ÉLARGISSEMENT DE LA ROUTE 7 DE
L'AUTOROUTE 417 AU CHEMIN ASHTON STATION - TRANSFERT DE LA RESPONSABILITÉ DE
CHEMINS DE DESSERTE À LA VILLE D'OTTAWA
acs2008-pws-inf-0010 WEST CARLETON-MARCH (5), RIDEAU-GOULBOURN
(21)
Ken McRae referred to his e-mailed comments previously distributed to all members of the Committee which spoke to the absence of information provided by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) and which he believed should have been contained in the staff report. He indicated that while staff were made aware of the MOE Order in July, no mention of this is reflected in the staff report. He felt staff have withheld knowledge of this Order from the public and from Council, and that a section of the report had been worded in such a way to suggest that the proposed road would definitely be built, despite the Minister’s indications to the contrary. He asked that the Auditor General be requested to examine how this Class EA was carried out to determine how the errors had occurred, and to make recommendations to keep such errors from re-occurring in future. A copy of his submission is held on file.
When asked to explain how staff were going to
advise Council of this Order, Alain Gonthier, Manager, Infrastructure
Management, PWS, explained that staff in Planning, Transit and the Environment
(PTE) department would be informing through the outcome of the Class EA
process; this was a comment identified by the Planning Group to indicate there is
a transfer of service roads. He added
that there was also a section that has not reached agreement or consensus,
which is not part of the current transfer and staff were reporting back as part
of their Class EA process. He confirmed
the Part II Order (Bump Up Request) has no impact on the report before the
Committee.
The councillor noted that the Bump-Up Request
was to ask for the Minister to review the situation and make a decision and
given the fact that the Ministry has rendered it’s decision, he wondered why
Council was not informed. Richard
Hewitt, Deputy City Manager for Public Works and Services, explained that there
has now been a determination of direction which staff in PWS, at the time of
the writing of this report, were not aware of.
What staff are proposing in this report is to move ahead on the areas
that were not subject to any particular appeal.
To provide further clarification and in
response to further questions posed by Councillor Cullen, Mr. Gonthier advised
that PTE staff would expand on the component that was subject to the EA;
however, when staff consulted with PTE regarding the roads that are subject to
this report, there were no issues with those sections that were being
recommended to be transferred to the City.
He confirmed that PWS staff were made aware of the Bump-Up Request when
they prepared this report, but it was not raised as a significant issue because
it was not part of the roads that was being transferred to the City.
When asked whether he was aware of the
Minister’s decision on the matter, Mr. Gonthier advised that he was not,
further adding that at that time, they were only aware of the wording to
provide in the report to make Committee and Council aware that there were still
issues outstanding, but that it did not affect the rest of the recommendations.
Councillor Cullen referred to information
contained in the last paragraph under “Discussion” in the report that would
lead one to believe that this is a currently unresolved issued. The Committee have now learned, however,
that there was a letter issued by the MOE (as presented by the delegation),
advising that the City is to redo the Environmental Study Report and revisit
two alternatives and that it not proceed with the project until five
requirements (mentioned in the letter) were fulfilled. He explained that this is a very different
result than the message conveyed in that paragraph. When asked when Council would have been informed of this MOE Part
II Order and how that process works, Mohammad Tayyaran, Program Manager,
Transportation Planning-Environmental Assessments, PTE advised that he received
the letter from the MOE sometime in mid-July and typically, staff would work
with their consultants and stakeholders to resolve the concerns that have been
raised. He explained there is no formal
process to advise further.
The councillor reiterated the fact that the
Committee has learned that it has gone from a bump-up request to an actual
Order, and he maintained that Council should have been informed if and how this
report is affected by that Order. And,
while it was partially helpful to alert the Committee to the fact that there
were unresolved issues, he stated that the issue has been moved to a different
plane by the Ministerial Order and it was his understanding that PWS staff were
not aware of this, otherwise they would have conveyed that information in the
report or by advising the Committee verbally at today’s meeting. Mr. Tayyaran thought this was conveyed to
PWS staff during their discussions with them, but added it was close to the
deadline for submission of this report and so they included a brief comment
about this matter in the body of the report.
He explained that the bump-up request would be dealt with by the PTE
department.
Councillor Cullen emphasized that the
Committee needed to know that, recognizing due diligence from both PTE and PWS
staff. He wanted assurance that the
Committee would not find itself in a similar situation again and emphasized the
need for better coordination/communication between departments and between
staff and Council. Mr. Hewitt
explained that where staff have had some difficulty here is because this
particular section was not of concern in this report, that any issues that emanate
from that Order or progress made on that Order was not necessarily reflected in
this report as it would have been had that section been the subject of the
report. He agreed staff should have
provided the latest information to the Committee and he assured the Committee
that he would discuss this with the Deputy City Manager for PTE to determine
how they can ensure this does not happen again. The Chair recommended that it be in the form of an IPD (from both
DCMs) for a future meeting.
That
Transportation Committee recommend Council accept the transfer of 5 service
roads being created by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation as part of the
widening of Highway 7 between Highway 417 and Ashton Station Road and that the
transfer take place at the time of the completion of construction.
CARRIED
Directions to staff
The Deputy City Managers for PWS and PTE to
bring forward an IPD to the Committee on the protocol for reporting Ministerial
Part II Order decisions in a timely way, particularly when it affects reports.