A wise decision from City of Ottawa staff at last?

It is pleasing to read that city staff is recommending a halt on home construction pending implementation of upgrades to the Hazeldean Pumping Station (Hazeldean Pumping Station upgrade delays Kanata houses, Ottawa Citizen, June 5, 2010) – part of the solution to previous occurrences of flooding in Glen Cairn.

Let us hope that city council's planning and environment committee withstand pressure from developers when they debate this issue on June 22nd. Let us also hope that the planned upgrade provides sufficient pumping capacity to address possible future growth in the affected areas.

Perhaps the city should also consider delaying projects in adjacent areas, such as the controversial Terry Fox Drive extension, even if it means sacrificing contributions from the government’s Economic Action Plan.

At least the Fernbank subdivision planning decision is going to be discussed!

It is pleasing to read that the OMB has agreed to hear the Friends of the Greenspace Alliance appeal of the Ottawa City Council approved Fernbank development plan (OMB approves appeal of Fernbank subdivision, Neco Cockburn, Ottawa Citizen, December 9, 2009). Hopefully the hearing will convince the OMB of the foolishness of proceeding with this development until existing Glen Cairn flooding problems are clearly understood and measures are put in place to eliminate any likelihood of future flooding events. Measures must include guidelines to prevent similar occurrences in any new developments.

Chair and past chair of Planning and Environment Committee oppose flood relief grant

It is disappointing to read that the present chair (Councillor Hume) and past chair (Councillor Hunter) of the City’s Planning and Environment Committee were the only people to vote in opposition to the motion to pay a small grant to residents in Kanata who have been affected by three flooding occurrences over the past 15 years (Committee passes flood relief grant, Jennifer Burden, Kanata Kourier-Standard, November 18, 2009).

The proposed motion to go before city council is already considered by many affected residents to be too lean and restrictive. Surely being affected by only a single incident of flooding should be sufficient to justify some payment and the amount of compensation should be cumulative, on a per occurrence say? The flooding results from bad development decisions in the first place. It is not the fault of residents. The expenditures involved are peanuts when compared with some of the obscene spending decisions that this city council makes.

Of course, if the Hume/Hunter duo opposed the motion because they think the city should pay more, then I’ll eat my words!

Lansdowne Live is not the only sole-source plan that is alive and well in the city of Ottawa

It appears that Lansdowne live is not the only example of blatant sole-source contracting in the City of Ottawa. It has come to my attention recently that by-passing the City’s procurement rules has become a convenient short-cut by the City to fast-track projects and to help keep them from public scrutiny. Here are a couple of recent examples that also appear to break other rules:

The City of Ottawa’s $47.7 Million Terry Fox Drive extension, funded under the Infrastructure Stimulus Program is purported to be "shovel ready." However it appears that the City was in no way to proceed with this project when funding was announced. In order to have a faint hope of starting construction of some portions of the project within timelines of the funding program, the City sole-sourced a $1.9 Million engineering contract to Dillon Consulting. That's right, $1.9 Million sole-sourced (See Page 47 of Document 1 in June 16, 2009 Corporate Services Committee Report: http://www.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/csedc/2009/06-16/08a%20-%20ACS2009-CMR-FIN-0021%20-%20DOC%201.pdf)!

The project traverses 1.5 km of Carp River floodplain and is likely unprecedented in the Province of Ontario in terms of the amount of floodplain storage that will be displaced since the Flood Damage Reduction Program was introduced in the 1970's. Under this program the three levels of government signed an agreement that they would not build, fund or approve projects where floodplains had been mapped (http://www.ec.gc.ca/Water/en/manage/flood/e_agree.htm#1)

The site of the project lies just downstream of a flood damage center, on a reach of the Carp River where an Order of the MOE Minister has been issued. The City has not yet responded to the conditions set in the Minister's Order. So why is this project being funded?

Secondly there is a $510,945.69 sole-sourced contract awarded to Novatech Engineering for the $65 Million Hazeldean Road Expansion Project that includes building new bridges over the Carp River: (See Page 89 of 100 Page Document 1, available at: http://www.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/csedc/2009/10-06/04%20-%20ACS2009-CMR-FIN-0041%20-%20DOA%20-%20Apr%201%20-%20Jun%2030%20%202009-%20FINAL.htm).

Just like the Terry Fox Drive project to the north, the Hazeldean Road project overlaps with Carp River floodplain where issues about flood levels have yet to be sorted out with the MOE Minister. More concerning about the Hazeldean Road project is that it is just downstream from Glen Cairn where hundreds of homes flooded on July 24th, and the City is not expected to complete its investigation until summer 2010 of what caused the flooding, the third such incident for may residents over the last 13 years.

So again, why are these projects being funded through sole-source contracts?