MD of Bighorn council has authorized administration to issue a call for proposals to design and build a water and wastewater connection from Canmore to Dead Man’s Flats.
The owners of River’s Bend and Limestone Valley, also known as the BHB lands, conceived the idea of connecting Dead Man’s Flats to the Canmore water and wastewater treatment as a means to allow development on a proposed 35-acre residential and light industrial project to move forward.
Bighorn council voted 3-2, with Councillors Reid Thomas and Erik Butters voting against the recommendation, to issue the design/build proposal request with three conditions: to hold the proposed costs for 90 days after the closing date; that the MD has the right to accept or reject any or all proposals and the design must include options for a single water line and a double or looped water line.
At an earlier meeting, council requested a financial model that shows operating and capital costs to better understand the overall economic effect of the development on the municipality.
According to a report prepared for council by Chief Administrative Officer Martin Buckley, the request for proposal would allow for a more accurate cost estimate and a view of the effects of the project.
“There is great difficulty in getting a firm handle on actual costs to construct. The feeling is that the MD needs to go to market and find out exactly what the project would cost, on a design-build basis,” Buckley stated in his report.
Thomas said he couldn’t support the motion as it was unfairly asking engineering companies to commit a large number of hours to design a proposal.
“These people put a lot of engineering effort into this because they take it seriously,” he said. “It’s not fair to be doing this.”
Thomas added that before the RFP goes out, council should first be able to evaluate the financial modeling worked on by ISL Engineering of Calgary.
“I find it astounding that ISL wouldn’t give you a better than conceptual range. We should use that to determine if it is feasible. I thought ISL and staff would help us with our own staff,” Thomas said.
He said he wanted to get a handle on the rates and off-site levies that would have to be charged, estimated costs on abandoning the Dead Man’s Flats well and the economic feasibility of the project for the MD.
“That is what we need to know before we engage expenses,” Thomas said.
However, as the cost to prepare a RFP is expected to be from $2,000 to $3,000 and engineering companies would only prepare a proposal if they chose to, Coun. Paul Ryan said he supported the recommendation, as it would result in a more accurate estimate than by going with a conceptual plan.
“This is a logical way to go to get realtime numbers,” he said.
Assistant Municipal Manager Greg Birch said design-build proposals would give the MD a starting point.
“You have to have a design to do a detailed plan,” Birch said, adding the MD at this point doesn’t have a design, only options.
To create the test council has asked for, the MD needs a design, Birch said.
“That is part of the struggle you are seeing from this side of the table,” he said.
Buckley added in his report that the RFP process – including the 90-day hold period for costing – would likely wrap up by the end of the year. By then, he expected that the MD would have confirmed other necessary facets of the plan, including the routing of the line, established what land and highway crossings may be needed and the supply agreement with the Town of Canmore.
