Bid to stop new City of Peterborough public works yard plan rejected by council

Thepeterboroughexaminer.com
Aug. 1, 2017
By Joelle Kovach

Council voted Monday night to start a $22-million conversion of a city-owned property on Webber Ave. into new public works yard, even though one city councillor wanted to rethink the plan.

Coun. Keith Riel said he wasn't happy with the idea of converting the former Coach Canada property into a public works yard, starting this fall.

"We're trying to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse," he said.

Riel said he would prefer to find a single property large enough for a new public works yard plus a new storage garage for transit buses.

Instead, the city plans to go looking for a separate property for bus storage. Currently, the bus barn is on the same site with the public works yard on Townsend St. - and it's overcrowded.

But Coun. Diane Therrien was the only one to vote along with Riel; the plan to convert Coach Canada went forward.

A city staff report states the work may take about a year, meaning the yard won't relocate from Townsend St. until the fall of 2018.

Council voted to hire J.R. Certus Construction Co. Ltd., of Vaughan, to do the work.

A city staff report points out that even at $22 million, the project is far less expensive than the alternative. The next best site, a vacant property on Fisher Dr., would have cost at least $45 million to convert into a public works yard.

The former Coach Canada property already has the repair shop and other facilities, since it was once headquarters of a coach bus company.

Council also voted Monday to hire a Toronto firm to find a new site for a new storage garage for transit buses, as well as do an environmental assessment on that chosen site.

IBI Group has said it will do the work for $236,061.

The firm will be expected to evaluate possible locations for a new transit garage, hold public consultations and then report to council (which has the ultimate say on the location). Then the consultant would do an environmental assessment on the site.

Coun. Henry Clarke said he understood why Riel would want to try to keep the public works yard and the new bus barn all on a single property.

"But there simply aren't large tracts of land, in the city, where we can put it all in one spot," he said.

Clarke also said it's critical to get the public works yard off a piece of prime real estate on Townsend St.

He said he thinks council will be happy with the proposals for redevelopment that may come (one idea has been to put a new OHL arena there).

"I think we'll be delighted with what comes forward," he said.