November 12, 2024, at 9:30 AM
Present:
A. Hopkins, J. Pribil, S. Trosow, S. Franke, D. Ferreira
Also Present:
K. Chambers, J. Dann, G. Dales, A. Rammeloo, K. Scherr, J. Stanford, J. Straub, K. Mason
Remote Attendance:
C. Rahman, E. Hunt, E. Skalski
The meeting was called to order at 9:31 AM.
1. Disclosures of Pecuniary Interest
That it BE NOTED that no pecuniary interests were disclosed.
2. Consent
Moved by S. Franke
Seconded by D. Ferreira
That Items 2.1 to 2.6 BE APPROVED.
Vote:
Yeas: A. Hopkins J. Pribil S. Trosow S. Franke D. Ferreira
Motion Passed (5 to 0)
2.1 11th Report of the Integrated Transportation Community Advisory Committee
2024-10-16 Submission (2.1) - ITCAC Report
Moved by S. Franke
Seconded by D. Ferreira
That the 11th Report of the Integrated Transportation Community Advisory Committee, from its meeting held on October 16, 2023, BE RECEIVED.
Motion Passed
2.2 Appointment of Consulting Engineer - Oxford Street West Improvements
2024-11-12 - Staff Report (2.2) -Oxford Street West Improvements Appointment of Consulting Engineer
Moved by S. Franke
Seconded by D. Ferreira
That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment and Infrastructure, the following actions be taken with respect to the staff report dated November 12, 2024, related to the Appointment of Consulting Engineer Oxford Street West Improvements project:
a) CIMA Canada Inc. BE APPOINTED as the consulting engineer to complete the detailed design and tendering services at an upset amount of $708,824.60 excluding HST, as per Section 15.2 (g) of the City’s Procurement of Goods & Services Policy;
b) the financing for this assignment BE APPROVED as set out in the Source of Financing Report as appended to the above-noted staff report;
c) the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to undertake all the administrative acts that are necessary in connection with this assignment;
d) the approvals given, herein, BE CONDITIONAL upon the Corporation entering into a formal contract with the consultant for the work; and,
e) the Mayor and the City Clerk BE AUTHORIZED to execute any contract or other documents including agreements, if required, to give effect to these recommendations. (2024-T05)
Motion Passed
2.3 Appointment of Consulting Engineer RFP 2024-273 Hamilton Road / Old Victoria Road / Commissioners Road East Intersection Improvements
Moved by S. Franke
Seconded by D. Ferreira
That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment and Infrastructure, the following actions be taken with respect to the staff report dated November 12, 2024, related to the Appointment of a Consulting Engineer for the Hamilton Road / Old Victoria Road / Commissioners Road East intersection improvements:
a) R.V. Anderson Associates Limited BE APPOINTED as the consulting engineer to complete the detailed design and tendering services at an upset amount of $621,165.00 (excluding HST), in accordance with RFP 2024-273 and Section 15.2 (e) of the Procurement of Goods and Services Policy;
b) the financing for this assignment BE APPROVED as set out in the Sources of Financing Report as appended to the above-noted staff report;
c) the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to undertake all the administrative acts that are necessary in connection with this assignment;
d) the approvals given, herein, BE CONDITIONAL upon the Corporation entering into a formal contract with the consultant for the work; and,
e) the Mayor and the City Clerk BE AUTHORIZED to execute any contract or other documents including agreements, if required, to give effect to these recommendations. (2024-T05)
Motion Passed
2.4 Appointment of Consulting Engineers for the Infrastructure Renewal Program: Round 4
Moved by S. Franke
Seconded by D. Ferreira
That on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment and Infrastructure, the following actions BE TAKEN with respect to the staff report dated November 12, 2024, related to the Appointment of Consulting Engineers for the Infrastructure Renewal Program – Round 4:
a) the following consulting engineers BE APPOINTED to carry out consulting services for the identified projects, at the upset amounts identified below, in accordance with the estimate on file, and in accordance with Section 15.2(e) of the City of London’s Procurement of Goods and Services Policy:
i) Spriet Associates London Limited BE APPOINTED consulting engineers to complete the pre-design, and detailed design for the reconstruction of Childers Street, from Brydges Street to Wilton Avenue, and Wilton Avenue, from Childers Street to Ashland Avenue in the total amount of $242,145.20 including contingency (excluding HST);
ii) Development Engineering (London) Limited BE APPOINTED consulting engineers to complete the pre-design, and detailed design for the reconstruction of Bridle Path, from Kipps Lane to north limit, and Country Lane, from Kipps Lane to Bridle Path in the total amount of $272,107.00 including contingency (excluding HST);
b) the financing for this project BE APPROVED as set out in the Sources of Financing Report as appended to the above-noted staff report;
c) the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to undertake all the administrative acts that are necessary in connection with this project;
d) the approval given, herein, BE CONDITIONAL upon the Corporation entering into a formal contract; and,
e) the Mayor and the City Clerk BE AUTHORIZED to execute any contract or other documents, if required, to give effect to these recommendations. (2024-E01)
Motion Passed
2.5 City’s Response to Ministry of Transportation Ontario Kick-Scooter Pilot Extension
Moved by S. Franke
Seconded by D. Ferreira
That on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment and Infrastructure, with respect to the staff report dated November 12, 2014, related to the City’s Response to MTO Electric Kick-Scooter Pilot Extension:
a) the comments as appended to the above-noted staff report from the Ministry of Transportation provided on September 26, 2024, BE RECEIVED;
b) the proposed by-law amendment as appended to the above-noted staff report, BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting held on November 26, 2024, to amend Bylaw A.-8344-62, Electric Kick-Scooter and Cargo Power-Assisted Bicycle By-law, to come into force and effect on November 26, 2024 for one year, and to extend the pilot project for Electric Kick-Scooters to November 27, 2025 as the Province has filed a Regulation allowing a pilot extension of up to five years; and,
c) the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to report back to Committee and Council in March 2025, on the electric kick-scooter (personal and shared services) data gathering, engagement, and enforcement work completed between May 2023 and December 2024. (2024-T10)
Motion Passed
2.5.a (ADDED) Schedule 1 - City’s Response to MTO Kick-Scooter Pilot Extention
(ADDED) 2024-11-12 - Schedule 1 (2
2.6 Federation of Canadian Municipalities Green Municipal Fund Agreement for Secure Bike Parking Administration Options Feasibility Study
2024-11-12 - Staff Report (2.6) - FCM Funding for Secure Bike Parking Administration Study
Moved by S. Franke
Seconded by D. Ferreira
That on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment and Infrastructure, the following action be taken with respect to the staff report dated November 12, 2024, related to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Green Municipal Fund Agreement for Secure Bike Parking Administration Options Feasibility study:
a) the proposed by-law as appended to the above-noted staff report BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting held on November 26th;
a) the Green Municipal Fund Grant Agreement, DFC-23-0393, (“Agreement”) between the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (“FCM”) and The Corporation of the City of London BE APPROVED for the provision of funding to evaluate options for secure bike parking facility design and administration on public and private property as appended to the above-noted staff report;
b) the Mayor and the Clerk BE AUTHORIZED to execute the Agreement; and,
c) the Deputy City Manager, Environment and Infrastructure BE APPOINTED as the Duly Authorized Officer to approve and execute any forms or documents on the City’s behalf that are necessary to fulfill the City’s reporting obligations under the Agreement.
Motion Passed
3. Scheduled Items
None.
4. Items for Direction
None.
5. Deferred Matters/Additional Business
None.
6. Adjournment
That the meeting BE ADJOURNED.
Motion Passed
The meeting adjourned at 9:51 AM.
Full Transcript
Transcript provided by Lillian Skinner’s London Council Archive. Note: This is an automated speech-to-text transcript and may contain errors. Speaker names are not identified.
View full transcript (39 minutes)
[7:28] (indistinct chatter) Testing, testing, and sometimes.
[18:57] Good afternoon, everyone. Oh, good afternoon. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the 15th meeting of the Civic Works Committee. Please check the city website for additional meeting detail. Information, meetings can be viewed via live streaming on YouTube and the city website. The city of London is situated on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, the Haudenosaunee, the Lupinee Walk, and the Adewandran. We honor and respect the history, languages, and culture of the diverse indigenous people who call this territory home.
[19:34] The city of London is currently home to many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit today. As representatives of the people of the city of London, we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and live in this territory. The city of London is committed to making every effort to provide alternate formats and communications, supports for meetings upon request, to make a request specific to this meeting. Please contact CWC at London.ca or 519-661-2489, extension 2425.
[20:13] I see we have all committee members present. I’d like to move on any disclosures of the hearing interest. I see none, we have a number of consent items, as well as an added, which is a schedule, provincial regulations to item 2.5. I’m looking for a mover and a seconder for the consent items, moved by Councillor Frank, seconded by Councillor Ferrera, and with that, any questions from committee on any of the consent items?
[21:00] Who would like to go first? Oh, well, yes, Councillor Preble. Okay, good morning, everyone. So I’ll sort of check, I just have a question. When we, 2.2 and 2.3, we are gonna be hiring again, outside organization that’s gonna help us with these projects. And I notice that sometimes in the past, we have, when we do the RFPs, RFQs, the bids, we list in the report various organizations that bid and also the amounts.
[21:37] And I don’t know if I missed it, but in these 2.2, 2.3, I did not see that. And I just want to ask you about it, if it’s, if I either missed it, or if we don’t list it all the time, if you could please let me know, thank you. Mr. Chair, thank you, Madam Chair. So Councillor would be referencing contractors, in which case we are obliged to provide the bid prices for RFPs, which are qualifications and price-based process. We do not provide that information. Councillor. Okay, thank you.
[22:09] Sorry, we do not provide that information due to the privacy or other reasons, thank you. It’s not as easy, Madam Chair, to compare the qualifications of contractors relative to the bid price versus a unit price for construction. So contractors, you will always see the bids and their bid estimates as per purchasing policy. We do not provide that for consultant commissions. Councillor. So thank you for that response. Now 2.6, when I read through 2.6, I know it’s under huge amounts of money, but when I look at the feasibility study, what we are supposed to do, and I don’t remember, it was 40,000 and how it would be coming from FCM, but my question is, the five points that are listed there, isn’t it the knowledge that actually we have our staff?
[23:01] Do you really need to do a feasibility study to find out these things? Isn’t it that our staff is knowledgeable and they can look at other municipalities in Ontario, in Canada, in the world, and made those recommendations of the feasibility study that’s supposed to give to us? By made through the chair, for a study like this, we will be very, very involved with the consultant, but it becomes one of resource capacity. We’re just not able to absorb this level of work in a photo for the six-month period of time.
[23:38] So it is very common for us to work with consultants that are more specialized in this area than we are. We also find that when we select the correct consultant, in this case, we have, they also bring additional knowledge that we just possibly don’t have there in the business, providing services to other municipalities in the private sector, and we’re able to glean that during our conversations in a project such as this. So we are quite engaged, but we definitely don’t have enough resources to undertake this on our own. Councillor, did I answer so many questions for now? Thank you.
[24:11] Thank you, Councillor Frank. Thank you, and I have a couple of questions. So following up on 2.3 for the Hamilton Road, Old Victoria Road and Commissioners Road, intersection improvements, I was emailing with the general manager at LTC in regards to kind of that area, more of that neighborhood, not having transit servicing, and it’s due apparently to the design, like there’s a dead end, and then that the secondary roadways are too narrow, and the intersections have not been designed to allow for transit turning movements, and I’m just wondering, with this intersection improvement, if we’ll be chatting with LTC to make sure the design requirements would allow for buses to be able to move around that area?
[24:56] Thank you, and through the chair, as part of the design process, we will be consulting with LTC. It’s typical for our roundabout designs that we do consider bus turning movements as part of the overall design process. Councillor? Thank you, and just to follow up on that, ‘cause I actually have never asked a question, with roundabouts, are buses able to get through them in general, or do they have to be designed especially for buses? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bus on a roundabout, but maybe I’m wrong. Mr. Dales?
[25:29] Through the chair, yes. Bus design is typical of our roundabouts. We do consider the turning capability of buses as we finalize the design process. Councillor? Thank you, I appreciate that. And sorry for not sending those in advance, I just started thinking about them as Councillor Perbault was asking. I do have two other questions, but in regards to item 2.5, I noticed that regarding the data points or metrics, it said the city is collecting data, including accident reports and claims information.
[26:01] And I’m just wondering what the other data points or metrics are if there’s, if people know off the top of their head, ‘cause I’m just curious how we’re evaluating the program. Through the chair, one of the key items is actually injury reports that come from the hospitals, and they happen to report out at year end. So that’ll be some information that we’ll be hopefully receiving in the month of January, if not early February. So those are typically the two areas. And of course, what we do receive here at the city through our risk management group will be reported out in the way of injuries or accidents associated with personal e-scooters.
[26:39] Councillor? Thank you. So then for that pilot, the primary evaluation of it is just to see if it is safer, unsafe and depending on where they’re riding, or I guess I’m wondering if we are capturing any other data points that we wanna report on for like the success of having scooters around the city. Mr. Stanford, any other data points that we’re looking at? Through the chair, in the summer of 2023, we were quite engaged and had a number of stop locations in the community where we actually chatted with people who were on e-scooters, and also heard directly from people who were not necessarily fans of e-scooters.
[27:18] So that information will be part of our package that comes forward early in 2025. We did not have that same level of activity in 2024, but we also continued to receive both positive information and negative information, the community on this. It’s interesting, well, I always gotta refer back that these are personal e-scooters. This is not an e-scooter share system. Part of our activity in the pilot project in Ontario is working with the other 16 communities of which about six or seven of them do actually have the e-scooter share program in place. So we will have access to more and more information on the provincial government.
[27:54] They are the gatekeepers of the information. Councillor, thank you. Good to hear, we’re also collecting qualitative data just because I guess I was trying to understand how we’d evaluate it and how we would change things and modify them to make sure that people are safer or to improve access to infrastructure for people using e-scooters. So good to hear that. And then the last one, I just wanted to say congratulations on finding some money outside of our property tax base for the secure bike parking. And I do know I’ve spoken with a few residents who bike to work from my ward to LHSC.
[28:28] And apparently they don’t have any secure bike parking. You guys probably already know this, but it sounds like there’s a very high interest in having secure bike parking at the hospital. So I just wanted to share that. So thank you for finding more money. Thank you, Councillor. Any other questions, comments from committee members? I see none. Any, I notice that Councillor Roman is online too. So welcome, Councillor Roman. The committee would allow me, I do have a question regarding 2.2, which is the appointment of consulting engineers for the Oxford Street West improvements.
[29:07] I know this is an important project in the West End. And I do have a couple of questions that residents have been wondering. The first question is around the process that we’re in. And question number one being has the plan being finalized. And following up with that, there is an intersection at Keynes and Oxford, which the design, the preferred design is to put lights. And is there a conversation out there or can changes be made to look into a roundabout?
[29:46] So I’ll go to staff with those questions. Thank you, Madam Chair for the questions. So in terms of the process, the environmental assessment process for the Oxford Improvement Project has been completed. It was approved by council in August or the summer. So we are now proceeding with the design of various components of that work. And that’s the topic of the report this before you this morning.
[30:20] On the second question related to the intersection, excuse me, it is typical that we look at roundabouts as part of the planning process for the work that we’re doing in this particular case. And there’s certainly a lot of factors that we consider at these locations in terms of property impacts, overall traffic impacts, utilities, costs, those are all considerations. As we did undertake the review at this location, we determined that the signalized intersection was the preferred approach.
[30:56] From an overall traffic perspective, a three lane roundabout would have been required here. And there are complications and complexities associated with those roundabouts as well as property impacts in the overall footprint that led us to the signalized intersection as the recommended approach here. Thank you for that. Sharing that information. I know the residents in this area are looking very forward to this project starting in 2026 and they’re very, very challenged in this area as we develop this area, how we move around.
[31:35] So a lot of excitement that this is coming forward, that there’s going to be a lot of angst, I think, as we move forward with the construction too and how we move around and having very few opportunities to move around and the congestion that can result in this area is a concern, but again, looking forward to this project going forward. And I just want to make another comment here from the chair on the 2.5, the response to the Ministry of Transportation, the Ontario Kick Scooter Pilot, really pleased to see this project being extended.
[32:18] And again, thank you, Councillor Frank, for the questions and Mr. Sanford about collecting information and the importance of getting that as the province has given us that extension to look into it further. So looking for that information and 2.6 to the FCM Green Municipal Fund Agreement, securing bike parking, I think this is a conversation that is out there and understanding it a little bit more with the study is going to be important for us and pleased that FCM will be offsetting some of those costs to the city.
[32:59] So with that, I don’t see any further questions so we can proceed to vote. So votes, yes. Housing the vote, the motion carries, five to zero. Moving on, scheduled items. I see none, items for direction. I see none, deferred matters, additional business.
[33:38] Councillor Perbault. I’m not sure, but I think this is the last meeting of this committee, is that correct? That is, the committee will be rolled into the Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee, which we’ll be meeting in December. Thank you, so I would like to thank the Chair, Councillor Hopkins for leading us through the past year and thank you for the staff and looking forward to the next year as the combined committee addressing these crucial issues. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.
[34:10] Councillor Trussell. Through the Chair, I’m completing my second year of service on this committee and I will not be on this committee next year. So this is the end of my time on civic works. This has been a very important committee to me. It’s often overlooked and it’s often considered to be not the hot committee. This hasn’t been the hot committee. And I particularly wanna thank, I’m not gonna start mentioning particular staff members because I don’t wanna miss anybody.
[34:50] But it’s just been such, I’ll just address this, the Deputy City Manager. It’s really been a pleasure working with your group. I feel that you’ve always taken my concerns seriously and I’ve always had a response right away. So matter of fact, when I have an unhappy constituent and I send them to one of you, you respond to them right away. And I just think that is really outstanding. We’ve dealt with some really important issues here. We started our term in the earlier stages of the master mobility plan.
[35:28] We looked at the yard and maintenance by law. We’ve certainly seen the new regime and garbage collection come to fruition and it’s just been a great pleasure to serve on this committee. I wanna thank the current Chair and the Hopkins and the previous Chair, Corinne, are you here? I am. - Yes, who chaired the committee during my first year. So I will come from time to time to meetings and I’ll be in touch with you. And certainly, again, I’m a little unhappy that I won’t be on this anymore, but we’re only supposed to do one committee now, which doesn’t stop my friend Jerry from anyone too.
[36:13] (laughing) Anyway, so again, thank you very much. Thank you, Councillor, for your remarks. Councillor Ferrer. Thank you, Chair. I don’t know how I’m supposed to follow up with that, but I will say I agree with almost all the sentiments that the Councillors made. This committee has been one of my favorites, if not my favorite. It’s true. I really like things that are sciencey, engineering. I really like learning about infrastructure. I’ve learned a lot about water, about wastewater, about storm sewers, about what did you call it, the sewer shed.
[36:48] I really appreciate just all the wealth of information that I’ve gotten. And again, kind of what Councillor Trostle said, you guys have always been very responsive. You helped me every single time I’ve asked for some help. So I really appreciate that. I am sad to see the committee go just because I could always look to the civic works agenda just for that type of information. So it does help me in my explanation and my understanding of how the city works, especially the things underground we just don’t see, that’s a huge component of the city. So I’m very grateful for staff, every single person in the front row, every single person in the back, even the IT guys right here too.
[37:26] I’m very happy with everybody at this committee. Yeah, especially the IT guys. And the chair, I thought the chair, very graceful, very well run every time. I really appreciate coming here and then with obviously with committee members as well, I’ll start cutting this a little bit short, but I do appreciate this committee a lot. And I look forward to the new committee and just kind of parsing out the information or the, I guess the items on that new agenda, so to speak, that would be here because I am still going to be pursuing that type of knowledge. So sad to see the committee go, but I had a great time.
[38:01] I really appreciate everything that you guys do. So thank you. Thank you, Councillor Ferrer. Councillor Frank. Thank you. I just wanted to say ditto to everything that they said. Yes, and if the committee will allow me ditto as well. And many thanks to the committee. It’s been a pleasure working with you. I am going to make further comments at council. So I’m going to be quick and short, but I cannot say enough about the support that staff has given this committee.
[38:35] You are always there. It’s really, I think that’s what makes it a great relationship that we’ve had at this committee. And I too am going to be sorry to see a go, even though I still will be around on this committee as it is combined with within corporate services. I’ve realized this committee has taught me when I travel around the city and I see a sewer grade, I no longer look at the sewer grade the same way. I have a greater understanding how water flows and where it moves and the importance of infrastructure in our city and the money that we spend to make everything work for residents.
[39:20] So many thanks to staff, many thanks to the committee for this year. It has been a pleasure. So thank you. And with that, I will look for adjournment. Councilor Frank, seconded by, Councillor Tresault. And with that, hands up, we can do a hand vote. And that is by everyone.