Kincardine okays extra engineering costs for landfill site work
By Liz Dadson

Kincardine Council(continued)

Kincardine council has approved an extra $115,000 in engineering fees to complete work on the design of the new $2.2-million Kincardine Solid Waste Management Centre at Armow in Ward 2 (former Kincardine Township), and the closure of the Ward 1 (former Town of Kincardine) landfill site.

Conestoga Rovers brought an update to council at the August planning and corporate services meeting.

Greg Ferraro and Jim Yardley explained that the Ward 1 landfill will likely remain open until the summer of 2011, rather than April of that year, given current waste rates. Meanwhile, the new waste management centre will be opened in two stages: the material recovery centre and scale in October, 2010, and the initial waste disposal cell in July, 2011.

Council also approved five-year capital and operating plans and budgets for the landfill sites. For Ward 1, the 2009-2011 budget is $365,000, while the five-year estimate is $415,000. The Ward 3 (former Bruce Township) landfill will continue to operate, with a budget of $9,500 for 2009-2011, and a five-year estimate of $119,600.

The waste management centre at Armow - which will become the main landfill site for the municipality - had a 2009-2011 budget of $848,500 based on the old 1999 approved design. Yardley said the proposed design will give the site four times the capacity, but the five-year estimate on that project is $2.2 million.

Councillor Guy Anderson asked if there is any movement by Bruce County for a solution to the landfill site issue.

"The county is focused on household hazardous waste," said mayor Larry Kraemer. "It's also studying the landfill capacity of various communities. We'll be responsible for the garbage in the Municipality of Kincardine for the foreseeable future. I think we're on the right track with this proposal."

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27/08/2009 09:38 PM

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Anderson then asked what parts of the work will be tendered.

Deputy mayor Laura Haight, chairperson of the public works committee, said there will be increased costs in choosing the 40-year plan over the 10-year plan. "The engineering remains the same, but we will tender for the weigh scale, the design and installation of the leachate system, and various other components of the project."

Ferraro said some smaller portions of the project could be done by municipal staff but the majority of the work will be tendered for competitive bids. There is also a 10-per-cent contingency built into the numbers for the five-year estimate, he said.

"The original plan would cost $6/cubic metre and that got us a landfill site that would last 10 years," said Kremer. "The new plan would extend the life of that site to 38 or 40 years, and cost $3.50/cubic metre. That's four times the capacity at half the price. We should go with this proposed plan."

Council agreed, unanimously. Councillor Marsha Leggett was absent.

Council also endorsed a public consultation process for the waste management centre, to include the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority and local residents.