City of Oshawa West Wharf Harbour Lands and Southeast Corner Brownfield Site Assessment and Risk Management Study

The City of Oshawa will conduct a phase II Environmental Site Assessment (ESA), a Risk Assessment and a Risk Management Plan at a 10-hectare site on the Oshawa Harbour. The site is part of a larger property that the City acquired in 2010 through the Oshawa Harbour Settlement Agreement between the Federal Crown, Oshawa Harbour Commission and the City of Oshawa. Before the City of Oshawa took title to the land, the Federal government remediated it to an industrial-commercial standard. Under the Harbour Settlement Agreement, the City needs to make the land available for public purpose, and remediate it to provincial environmental standard for public park use. The contamination on the site relates primarily to its former use as bulk fuel storage center, as well as a storage site for coal and salt, though the various properties that make up the site were used for different industrial purposes. Generally, the lateral extent of impacts in soil and groundwater are understood, but the vertical extent has not yet been fully delineated. After taking soil samples and conducting laboratory analysis to assess the extent of the contamination, the project team will complete a hazard and exposure assessment, risk characterization, and standard deviation assessment for human health and ecological risk. Completing the delineation of contamination in the soil and groundwater should allow for a comprehensive remedial action plan that will meet Ministry of Environment requirements and will address any potential off-site issues. The Record of Site Condition process and related risk management measures will ensure that there will be no deleterious effects upon adjacent waters and users of the public park. After obtaining the Record of Site Condition (RSC) for the property, the City plans to remove fencing to permit public waterfront access, develop an off-road section of the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail and use the lands in conjunction with major events at nearby Lakeview Park. They anticipate that the new parkland and trail will serve as a catalyst for infill residential development along the north side of Harbour Road, and increase ridership on Durham Transit buses that serve the area. The study will further objectives in the Oshawa Strategic Plan to identify, connect and protect natural heritage features habitats, as well as policies in the Oshawa Official Plan which encourage the cleanup of the Harbour area. The City`s strategy of conducting separate but concurrent sampling and risk management plans for different portions of the harbour lands may result in economies of scale that could be applicable to other large contaminated waterfront properties. The City of Oshawa is applying concurrently for another brownfield feasibility study, GMF 13114, City of Oshawa Former Marina Lands Brownfield Site Assessment and Risk Management Study, which will also be presented at the March 2015 GMF Council meeting. While this study pertains to the western portion of the City Harbour lands including the southeast corner of Simcoe Street south and Harbour Road, 1609 Simcoe Street south, and the city owned west wharf lands, the other application deals with the eastern portion of the City Harbour lands including the former marina. Separate Phase I Environmental Site Assessments were performed on the two sites, which have different histories. Originally the city separated the eastern and western portions of the harbour holdings in consideration of the fact that the transfer of lands back to the City might occur at different times, in order to speed up the RSC and subsequent redevelopment process. At this point, however, the City is now considering filing one comprehensive RSC for all of its holdings. (Project description from original funding application)