BWG seeks cost-sharing agreement with County, MTO for $53.1 M interchange

By Miriam King Bradford Times Feb 24 2011

The estimated cost of a new interchange at Hwy. 400 and the 5th Line of Innisfil is now $53.1 million, including engineering, construction, contingencies, and land acquisition – but unlike the Dissette St./8th Line Project, a proposed cost-sharing agreement with the County of Simcoe and Ministry of Transportation should save taxpayers from surprises.

The Town’s share of the one-third/one-third/one-third cost-sharing proposal would be $17.7 million, said Director of Engineering Debbie Korolnek – with Developers responsible for 90% of that amount, through Development Charges.

Korolnek was in Council on February 15, asking Council for permission to proceed with a formal cost-sharing agreement with the County and province, that “merely gets the ball rolling.” She noted that hammering out a cost-sharing agreement with the province is usually the “single longest process” of a project.

“I still have a problem with putting an interchange in environmentally sensitive lands,” said Deputy Mayor Rob Keffer. “I’m not really satisfied that the Environmental Assessment (EA) is going to look at all the implications.”

The EA for the interchange includes input from the Ministry of Environment and Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority, that agrees with the placement of new ramps on environmentally sensitive lands as long as mitigating steps are taken, including the restoration of Fraser Creek.

Deputy Mayor Keffer said he was “afraid of the extra costs, the future costs if there are flooding concerns… I am just afraid that the burden on the taxpayer, even if we do get one-third, one-third sharing, is too high for the taxpayer to grapple with.”

“There isn’t one project that’s been started in this municipality… that hasn’t had a degree of risk,” replied Councillor Del Crake. “I don’t think we’re taking a risk by placing ourselves in the hands of our Chief engineer or the engineers of the Ministry of Transportation.”

Crake said that the new interchange “has been a project of this Council for the past 10 or 12 years. It is the crux of our economic development.” Without the development of the Hwy. 400 lands, he said, “we will stagnate… The residents of this community, instead of being protected, will be extremely vulnerable.”

Korolnek emphasized that the technical details of the design “would be done by design experts in the field.” She also noted that the development community, which will be responsible for 90% of costs, wants the assurance of a cost-sharing agreement.

“The days of MTO footing the bill for all of these interchanges are long gone,” she said – pointing out that the interchange for Vaughan Mills was “100% paid by the developer.”

Once a cost-sharing agreement has been negotiated, it will come back to Council, before the project can proceed.

Councillor James Leduc questioned the wording of the agreement, which states that the 5th Line interchange allows the province to “defer the improvements on 88… alleviating demand for the Hwy. 404-400 link.”

Korolnek explained that the wording was there because there is an offset. “In pushing this interchange forward… that allows MTO to defer other expenditures,” she said. The Town is asking that the savings be diverted to this new interchange.

“It is critical to our future that we think long-term,” said Mayor White, for the Hwy. 400 corridor. “When I see jobs, I see tax dollars – that’s what it comes down to.”

Council voted 8-1 in favor of pursuing the agreement.