Gasoline contamination leads to Yonge Street project delay in Holland Landing

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 6, 2015
By Simon Martin

Holland Landing residents should get ready for more construction delays.

Crews working on Yonge Street last month encountered what looked like gasoline byproduct deep in the ground.

Project manager Claudio Micelli said he’s assuming the byproduct came from the closed down gas station across the road.

“Crews encountered the fumes when digging,” he said. “They started smelling gas.”

Construction work has halted as York Region staff is now seeking a disposal site for the soil. Region staff is also waiting to get soil tests back later this week, but Micelli said the gasoline showed up in the water tests, so it is not too big a stretch to think it would also be found in the soil.

According to Micelli, the gasoline byproduct appears to be localized near the gas station, as crews did not encounter similar issues elsewhere during construction, but the extent of contamination is not known at this time.

Region staff is waiting for soil test results before contacting the Environment Ministry about the issue, but in situations such as this, lawyers and insurance companies get involved in deciding who is responsible for the environmental damage.

The owner of the closed down gas station is unknown at this time.

As a temporary solution on Yonge, Micelli said region staff might decide to fill in the road and open both lanes as they determine how to proceed with the gas station owners.

“There’s no immediate threat to the public,” Micelli said.

The region is constructing twin forcemain sewers and a gravity trunk sewer along Bradford Street.

The sewers will go along Yonge Street to the lagoons, then continue to 2nd Concession.

The Bradford Street road closure was scheduled to end in August, but Micelli said the road opening has been delayed until September.

The Bradford and Yonge delays are unrelated.