An infrastructure project in Owen Sound’s east end that is behind schedule and over budget is going to cost another half-a-million dollars to complete.
City council approved a recommendation during its meeting Monday to increase the budget of the 16th Avenue East sanitary sewer replacement project by $488,000. The amount allocated for the work is now over $2-million.
Last year, council awarded a $1.52-million contract to Walker Construction for the replacement of about 750 metres of sanitary sewer on 16th Avenue East between 17th and 20th Streets (near Heritage Place Mall), as well as the removal of abandoned watermain, road and curb restoration and the rehabilitation of affected driveways and shoulders.
The work was originally scheduled to be completed in October 2025, but a city staff report says there have been delays tied to subcontractors. The project was on hold, but resumed this month.
The higher-than-anticipated cost of the work is mainly due to the discovery of oil-contaminated soil and groundwater that was discovered late last year.
A report to council says this led to “additional disposal costs, environmental investigations, engineering costs, change orders, ongoing discussions regarding associated costs, and consideration of alternative completion methods.”
Coun. Melanie Middlebro’ asks staff if the source of the contamination is known, and if it’s possible to recoup costs from whoever the source was?
Owen Sound’s Manager of Public Works and Engineering Mason Bellamy says “we only have speculation at this point” on the source of the contamination.
“Both city staff and our consultant have been in contact with the Ministry of the Environment on this,” Bellamy says. “They are interested in the file, and they are doing some investigating. So we may get some more information in the future.”