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Risks from delayed Cougar Creek flood mitigation work 'unacceptably high'

“This is a priority project. It’s protecting lives, property, critical facilities, CP tracks, the Trans-Canada Highway, key infrastructure. Time is of the essence and the Town will use all tools available to hold the contractor accountable for their obligations and see the project through to completion.”

CANMORE – A vital flood mitigation project expected to be two-and-a-half years behind schedule has prompted the Town of Canmore to file a notice of default against the contractor Flatiron Constructors Canada Ltd.

According to the Town of Canmore, the Cougar Creek flood mitigation is significantly behind schedule and only partially complete, with delays pushing completion to 2025 and also forcing other flood mitigation projects such as Stoneworks Creek to be pushed back.

Andy Esarte, the Town’s head of engineering, said with the project so far behind schedule and little progress made since April, the community risks are "unacceptably high.”

“This is a priority project. It’s protecting lives, property, critical facilities, CP tracks, the Trans-Canada Highway, key infrastructure,” he said during the Nov. 15 committee of the whole meeting.

“Time is of the essence and the Town will use all tools available to hold the contractor accountable for their obligations and see the project through to completion.”

The work was prompted following the devastating 2013 floods. Canmore saw millions of dollars in damage, including homes that fell into Cougar Creek, and evacuation of residents. The Canadian Pacific railway tracks were nearly washed away and the Trans-Canada Highway was cut off by the raging flood waters.

As a result, Esarte said the municipality has a number of steep creek projects that are priorities for the Town, adding Cougar Creek is the highest priority.

"It has our highest number of residents and businesses that are impacted by the creek, so it poses our highest risks,” he said.

“There are other areas like Stoneworks Creek where we’d like to get a project going. We have the design complete, the budget approved and funding secured and we’re working on the projects sequentially. Every year of delay with Cougar Creek is a year of delay on our overall steep creek program.”

Esarte said the Town and Flatiron Constructors Canada Ltd. began a formal dispute process with a referee receiving information from both sides in October. A response is expected in early 2023, but it will be non-binding on either side.

Roughly 12 facilitated sessions took place this past spring, which resolved many technical items, but Esarte said they failed to reach an answer on the larger issue of the overall delay.

The low level outlet is largely finished, while some blasting and earth moving has also happened on the spillway. The excavation of bedrock wrapped up in 2021, but limited work has been made on the main foundation and the embankment structure.

The June rainfall also caused material damage that led to a further delay of two months. An insurance claim has been submitted and a review of the claim is ongoing.

A short staff presentation to committee of the whole was followed by a roughly 35-minute in camera session. Council and Town staff previously went in camera on the project in April for contract negotiations.

Esarte said Flatiron has expressed there are a number of reasons for delay such as the changing conditions, and conditions being more challenging than first expected.

The project was meant to be finished in 2021, while landscaping and reclamation work was set to be done in 2022. However, it was pushed back to an expected date of November 2022.

With construction season wrapping up for the year, the work is now estimated to be finished early in 2025. However, Esarte told council the completion date is provided by Flatiron and it’s unclear why the date remains so far off.

The project work means the popular Lady MacDonald trail has been closed for the duration of the work and Cougar Creek Canyon is tentatively planned to be open to the public in 2023.

“This is a really important project. We saw in 2013 the hazard we’re dealing with Cougar Creek,” Esarte said. “We know about subsequent studies, events can actually be much worse, so completing this project is a priority and we’ll take all steps necessary to get it done.”

The province approved the mitigation project in 2020 for $48 million after the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) gave its stamp of approval in 2018 and the OK to a revised project application in 2019.

Alberta Environment and Parks contributed $29 million, while $14.5 million came from the federal government, $4 million from the Town of Canmore and $1.37 million from Alberta Transportation.

The tender was awarded to Calgary-based Flatiron Constructors Canada Ltd. for $32.8 million in 2020 and several local sub-contractors are part of the project.

Flatiron has previously worked on the Glenmore Dam in Calgary, Kicking Horse Canyon near Golden, the Ruskin Dam near Mission, B.C. and the Red Deer interchange.

The design includes a 34-metre high embankment and a 20-metre wide spillway on the east abutment. Once completed, the work will reduce the peak flow of water.

Esarte said there was significant damage on a lot of creeks during the 2013 flood, but nothing compared to Cougar Creek.

"It was quite scary. Some of the other creeks caused significant damage, but for the most part the situation was generally under control,” he said.

“For a large portion of the 2013 event, things weren’t in control. We were in a position where we were evacuating residents that were stranded on the east side of the creek and under very challenging conditions. We got lucky to some extent since it could’ve been worse. The creek stayed in the channel for the most part until it got down to the highway. That event could’ve been far worse.”

Attempts to reach Flatiron were unsuccessful.

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