Garnet Valley project completed

The Garnet Valley water separation and road upgrade project has been completed within range of its amended budget, council heard Monday. The project — which connected residents to the municipality’s water treatment plant, upgraded Garnet Valley road and added bicycle lanes — is projected to come in within 1.5 per cent or less of the revised budget of $7.1 million.

“This is a complex project with numerous challenges,” said director of works and utilities Kris Johnson.

A significant challenge was an error in the detailed design drawings provided by WSP Canada Inc., in the quantities of materials required in specific sections of the road.

The error led council to reduce the scope of the project this past summer and contributed to the projected shortfall of $103,000.

Without the contractor’s contribution of $250,000, negotiated by Johnson and staff, the shortfall would have been in the range of $353,000.

Council and chief administrative officer Linda Tynan praised Johnson for aggressively pursuing the contractor’s contribution.

“It would have been a nightmare for the district without the contribution. Contractors should be held accountable,” Tynan said.

She also said the teamwork by all departments of municipal staff led to the success of the project.

“Any deficiency items noted at the substantial completion inspection on Nov. 28 will be addressed in the spring of 2018,” Johnson said.

Once all actual costs for the project have been finalized, council will determine if a request to allocate additional funds from reserves is required.

Johnson reported that land purchase agreements have been signed and returned for 12 of the 20 required land acquisitions.

Owners of five properties are pursuing options to subdivide and three property purchase agreements are still outstanding.

“Congratulations to Kris and the staff. We really appreciate everybody’s input into this complex project,” Coun. Janet Peake said.