April 7, 1998
To:Works and Utilities Committee
From: M. A. Price
Interim Functional Lead - Solid Waste Management
Subject:Keele Valley Landfill Site B Amendment to Technical Services Agreement With Conestoga Rovers &
Associates Limited
Purpose:
To seek authority to extend the agreement between the City of Toronto and Conestoga Rovers & Associates Limited
(CRA) for general consulting services, landfill gas consulting services including gas utilization and ambient air monitoring
and leachate disposal, moisture recirculation, final cover, progressive rehabilitation and site closure requirements at the
Keele Valley Landfill Site (KVLS).
Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:
The 1998 - 2002 Capital Works Program estimates a total budget of $16,477,000 for ongoing development of the KVLS
under Project C-SW165. Budget approval is still outstanding.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that:
(1)authority be granted to increase the approved level of expenditure for technical services for Conestoga Rovers and
Associates Limited by an amount of $246,000.00 from $2,571,000.00 to $2,817,000.00 after the Municipal Goods and
Services Tax (GST) Rebate for general consulting services, landfill gas consulting services including gas utilization and
ambient air monitoring, leachate disposal, moisture recirculation, final cover, progressive rehabilitation and site closure
requirements at the Keele Valley Landfill Site within funding limits previously approved;
(2)the term of the agreement to be extended to December 31, 1999; and
(3)the appropriate officials be authorized to amend the existing agreement between the City of Toronto and Conestoga
Rovers & Associates Limited to give effect thereto.
Council Reference/Background/History:
On October 25, 1995, Council approved Clause No. 7 of Report No. 16 of the Environment and Public Space Committee
extending the agreement between Metropolitan Corporation and CRA to April 1, 1998, and raising the limit on the
approved expenditure by $881,000.00 to $2,571,000.00 after the (GST) rebate.
Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:
CRA was the previous owner/operator's (Superior Crawford Ltd./Waste Management Inc.) consultant during the
environmental hearings leading up to the certification of the KVLS and Avondale North borrow pit. In August 1983, the
Metropolitan Corporation originally retained CRA to perform certain professional services for and in connection with the
development and management of the Keele Valley Landfill Site under Provisional Certificate of Approval No. A230610.
The conditions imposed in the Provisional Certificate of Approval for the Keele Valley Landfill require Toronto to report
to the Ministry of the Environment on the manner in which the landfill is constructed, operated and maintained. CRA has
been directly involved with obtaining the approvals necessary to report to the MOE in order to continue operating this
landfill.
CRA were also our prime consultant for application with the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) on the proposed
expansion of the site. They have been involved with this site and the detailed development and design of the various
systems, controls and operations with Metro and the previous owners since the 1970s and their staff have over 30 collective
years of work experience directly related to the site. CRA is currently in the process of resolving and finalizing with
ourselves and the MOE a number of approvals including those involving moisture recirculation, leachate disposal, landfill
gas control and utilization, air monitoring and progressive rehabilitation and final cover. We believe that in order to
maintain continuity of the engineering design, approval and implementation of this work we should continue to retain
CRA. A new consultant would have to become completely familiar with the ongoing projects as well as the history of the
site and be interjected into and agree with the ongoing dialogue presently under way with the MOE, which we believe
would result in additional costs to the Corporation, especially in view of significant ongoing design and operations
developments at the site.
Due to the large size and prominence of the KVLS, the MOE has paid particularly close attention to the site's design and
operation and environmental impact and control. It is the only active site in Ontario requiring ongoing approvals by the
MOE. When we were originally considering consultants to provide engineering services for the KVLS, the MOE
encouraged us to hire our present consultants, including CRA, because of their knowledge of the site, and the history of the
site prior to our purchase. Furthermore, the MOE recognizes the existing consultants at Keele Valley as pre-eminent in their
field, and they have verbally encouraged Metro to retain the same consultants. The MOE who have similar hiring practices
with respect to engaging consultants as the Corporation have maintained the same consulting team at the KVLS when they
rehired their own third party consultant (Trow Ltd.), for all the above reasons and defended their choice before the
Management Board of Cabinet, the most senior approving authority in the provincial government. We concur with the
MOE's position regarding consultants at the KVLS.
Some additional reasons for continuing to retain CRA include the following:
(1)the feasibility and/or necessity of the proposed expansion has yet to be determined. There are significant cost benefits,
notwithstanding the minimization of the Corporation's staff time to educate other consultants to maintain CRA's continuity
between the information contained in the expansion documents and ongoing work at the KVLS;
(2)CRA's continued involvement will allow us to maintain the established efficiency of inspections, documentation and
reporting to avoid unnecessary duplication of work, which would increase consulting charges to the Corporation and
require a significant amount of our staff time being spent in assisting and educating a new consultant;
(3)it will provide consistency of design objective; and
(4)CRA has provided cost-effective project management and design services to the Corporation. The MOE and our staff
are confident and satisfied with CRA's work to date at the KVLS.
We feel that it would be in the City of Toronto's best interests to utilize CRA and ensure continuity through this time
period because of the sensitivity of the issues and cost implications of effectively meeting the requirements of the
Certificate of Approval, and the installation and operations of these systems will be ongoing.
All major stakeholders (in addition to the City of Toronto) involved in the approval process and development of the KVLS
to date (since 1983), have remained the same. These stakeholders include key decision-makers at the MOE and the MOE's
prime consultant, community members of the KVLS Liaison Committee, representatives of the City of Vaughan, and
others, including CRA. The MOE approval and review process for significant engineered systems and/or Site operations of
the KVLS is on going. There are unresolved issues at the KVLS and others that remain to be resolved through ongoing
discussions with the MOE. By retaining the same consultant potential disputes at any future hearings regarding
responsibility between two consultants who have worked on the same project is avoided.
CRA has continuously provided excellent quality and cost effective project management and design services to the City of
Toronto.
An extension of CRA's agreement to December 31, 1999 would ensure that the City of Toronto as proponent is provided
the necessary continuity required to complete the approval process and development of the KVLS in a cost-effective
manner. We estimate the cost for CRA=s services for this period at $246,000.00 after the GST rebate.
Conclusions:
A consultant is required for general consulting services, landfill gas consulting services including gas utilization and
ambient air monitoring, leachate disposal, moisture recirculation, final cover, progressive rehabilitation and site closure at
the KVLS. Extending the agreement between the City of Toronto and CRA for these services has many advantages. It is
therefore recommended that the agreement between the City of Toronto and CRA for consulting services at the KVLS be
extended to December 31, 1999 and that authority be granted to increase the approved level of expenditure for these
consulting services by $246,000.00 after the GST rebate.
Contact Name :
Lou Ciardullo, P. Eng.
Engineer - Keele Valley Landfill
Solid Waste Management Division
Phone: (905) 832-0682 ext. 235
Fax: (905) 832-4944
E-mail: Lou_Ciardullo@metrodesk.metrotor.on.ca
Interim Functional Lead for Solid Waste Management
Barry H. Gutteridge
Commissioner
Works & Emergency Services