A city council committee has upheld an order requiring a Point Douglas industrial site owner to allow workers onto the property so they can inspect an underground sewer pipe.
Cynthia Wiebe, manager of engineering services in the city’s water and waste department, said staff believe the nearly 60-year-old pipe is in poor condition and requires “rehabilitation” that would help to avert a sewage spill.
“A collapse or failure of one of these pipes could cause an environmental discharge to the Red River similar to what we’ve seen with the Fort Garry-St. Vital siphons earlier this year,” Wiebe told the water, waste and environment committee.
WAYNE GLOWACKI / FREE PRESS FILES
Winnipeg city council has ordered a Point Douglas industrial site to allow city workers onto it’s property so they can inspect an underground sewer pipe.
More than 228 million litres of raw sewage flowed into the Red River in February after a pipe crossing underneath the river broke near the Fort Garry Bridge.
The city said AC Landco 98 Inc., which owns the riverside land at 1 and 2 Point Douglas Ave., refused to allow staff onto the property to access an easement and conduct an inspection of a concrete interceptor sewer in June, violating the municipal sewer bylaw.
The Calgary-based company’s appeal of a city order, issued in July, was heard Monday at city hall.
Wiebe said the city needs to clean and inspect about 253 metres of pipeline, which is 1,200 millimetres in diameter, using a remote-operated camera that enters through a manhole.
She said the interceptor takes sewage from a lift station on the other side of the river in St. Boniface, and directs it to the North End treatment plant.
Wiebe told the committee the land owner asked for “monetary compensation” and a separate agreement.
Lawyer Curtis Parker, who appeared on AC Landco 98’s behalf, argued the order’s scope was “far in excess” of what is reasonably required to inspect the wastewater system, and should be limited to only what is necessary to complete an inspection.
He said the order was written in such a way that it would give the city unlimited right of access to the Point Douglas Avenue site, which is almost five hectares.
Parker said the city only needs access to lines which are approximately 0.1 hectares in length. He suggested the city redraft the order.
“AC Landco is open to working with city and being reasonable, but any access to these lands must be likewise reasonable, defined with specificity and, above all, respectful to this owner’s private property rights, which I would stress cannot and should not be an afterthought in this committee’s decision,” said Parker.
During discussions that began a few years ago, AC Landco 98 sought a save harmless agreement with the city to absolve it from liability in case someone is injured during the pipeline inspection and, if required, rehabilitation.
Parker said “there is no shortage of hazards” within the gated property, including remnants of demolished buildings, areas damaged by fire and broken concrete and glass.
Firefighters have attended multiple fires at the site since 2011, including blazes at buildings used by Gateway Industries. Gateway’s owner, Sheldon Blank, was listed as an agent of AC Landco 98 in the city’s presentation to the committee.
AC Landco 98 president Steve Butt, who addressed the meeting via video from Calgary, said the company does not want a sewage spill to occur.
He expressed concerns about the city having access to the entire property, and that a dig or months of work may be required.
Wiebe said staff and contractors attempt to access city wastewater system infrastructure as directly and efficiently as possible, and they do not go looking for other issues when they carry out inspections on private property.
“We would approach it from position of reasonableness,” she said.
Wiebe said the city’s legal department advised that a save harmless agreement is not necessary, because contracts state the city is responsible for the safety of employees and contractors.
She said the inspection and any rehabilitation of the interceptor — a “freeway” of the sewer system — would be done at the city’s expense.
Wiebe said liners were installed in nearby sewers that were found to be in poor condition.
“The sooner we can address deficiencies, the less invasive it is,” she said, after the company raised concerns excavation may be necessary. “The longer they go (or) the more deteriorated the pipe, the more invasive, potentially, the rehabilitation is.”
The world could be completed within a day or a few days, depending on how much debris needs to be removed from the pipe, said Wiebe.
The four-member committee voted to uphold the order, after the meeting moved in-camera to ask questions of the city’s legal department.
“At the end of the day, there is city infrastructure there that needs to be inspected,” committee chair Coun. Evan Duncan said during the meeting.
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching
Reporter
Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.
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