Delaying work on managing three city-owned contaminated sites by a couple of years will not open St. Albert up to potential fees and fines, according to the city.
City council wrapped up 2020 budget deliberations Nov. 21 and left no dollars assigned to remediating such sites, which include two public works facilities and the snow storage site on Badger Lands.
However, not dealing with the contamination could potentially delay development of the Badger Lands site. It is currently under consideration by council as one of three options for a future recreation facility.
According to the 2020 budget, it would cost $150,000 over two years to come up with remediation plans for two of the sites, not including the actual work to remediate them. A project charter for the remediation notes there is “significant risk” associated with management of the sites, since failure to comply with provincial and federal laws could result in investigations, enforcement or fines.
St. Albert utilities and environment director Kate Polkovsky said in a report to council there is “no immediate risk” of delaying the work a couple of years, however.The identified contaminant is chloride from the city’s winter road maintenance program, Polkovsky said.
“However, the measured concentrations are much less than ocean salt water and pose little to no human or animal health risks from contact,” she wrote. “Further, as this water is not used for any purpose such as drinking water, livestock watering, or irrigation, there is no immediate risks in not remediating the sites in the near future.”
The report was made in response to a request from Coun. Jacquie Hansen, who asked city staff if the city would be hit with fines if it delays the work.
“Delaying sort of just delays the long-term planning of any particular parcel of land we are managing,” Polkovsky said during council’s Nov. 14 budget meeting.
In September, council was publicly presented with three land options for a future recreation facility, and the cost to service those parcels. While the land will not cost anything, servicing costs ranged from $7 million to $14.3 million in net cost.
Badger Lands was the only city-owned land in the mix, with two developers offering the other two parcels as donations.
City council planned to make a decision on which parcel of land could be a home for future community amenities before the end of 2019.
