Phase One Environmental Site Assessment the Ottawa Hospital- New Civic Campus
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FINAL REPORT Phase One Environmental Site Assessment The Ottawa Hospital- New Civic Campus Submitted to: Parsons Inc. 1223 Michael Street, Suite 100 Ottawa, Ontario K1J 7T2 Submitted by: Golder Associates Ltd. 1931 Robertson Road Ottawa, Ontario, K2H 5B7 Canada +1 613 592 9600 19127064 March 2021 March 2021 19127064 Distribution List 1 e-copy - Parsons Inc. 1 e-copy - Golder March 2021 19127064 Executive Summary Golder Associates Ltd. (Golder) was retained by Parsons Inc. (Parsons) on behalf of the Ottawa Hospital to conduct a Phase One Environmental Site Assessment (Phase One ESA) for three parcels of land associated with the new Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus in Ottawa, Ontario (the “Site” and the “Phase One Property”). The location, surroundings, and layout of the Site indicating the three land parcels are shown on Figure 1 – Key Plan and Figure 2 – Site Plan. The Site is an irregular shaped parcel of land, occupying approximately 20.3 hectares (50.1 acres), located between Carling Avenue and Prince of Wales Drive with the northern section located immediately southwest of intersection between Carling Avenue and Preston Street. Two municipal addresses are associated with the Site; 520 Preston Street for Parcel A and 930 Carling Avenue for Parcels B and C. These three parcels of land are under the management of three different agencies - National Capital Commission (NCC) for Parcel A; Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) for Parcel B; Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Central Experiment Farm (CEF) for Parcel C as indicated below: Parcel A is a stand-alone municipal parcel owned by the NCC and consists of a commercial parking lot associated with Dow’s Pavilion and landscaped area. Parcel B, owned by PSPC, is occupied by Queen Juliana Park and is separated from Parcel A by railway tracks associated with O-Train. Parcel C occupies the largest portion of the Site and consists of two buildings on the northern portion (a Bell utility station and the Sir John Carling Building West Annex, currently under demolition) and a tennis club house with outdoor courts on the southwest portion. Generally, exterior areas of the Site include vacant grass covered landscaping areas with trees and shrubs; however, dense tree coverage was observed on the north section of Parcel A, as well as on the north, east and south perimeter of Parcel C. In addition to Parcel A, several asphalt paved parking areas were observed on the northern portion of Parcel C, associated with Sir John Carling Building (SJCB). A roadway, part of Birch Drive, was located on the western portion of the Site. Access to the interior of any buildings or structures located on the Phase One Property was not available at the time of the Site visit. In addition, snow cover on the ground restricted observations of the ground surface at the time of the site visit. The Phase One ESA was completed in general accordance with O. Reg. 153/04, as amended, and included a review of available current and historical information, a site visit, an interview, evaluation of readily available information, and reporting, subject to the limitations outlined in Section 9.0 of this report. Golder understands that this Phase One ESA was undertaken to assist the Ottawa Hospital in the redevelopment planning of the Site for the new Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus. The Phase One ESA may also be used to support development applications with the City of Ottawa. Based on the information obtained as part of this Phase One ESA, a total of 26 Potentially Contaminating Activities (PCAs) were identified in the Phase One Study Area which resulted in nine Areas of Potential Environmental Concern (APECs) for the Site based on site characteristics and the locations of these PCAs. As such, a Phase Two ESA would be required to confirm the presence and extent of subsurface impacts to soil and groundwater quality at the Site from the identified APECs. i March 2021 19127064 It is noted that an APEC cannot be eliminated at the Phase One ESA stage using previous Phase Two ESA data under the Regulation 153/04 RSC process. Given the land ownership of the property will remain federal it is uncertain if an Record of Site Condition (RSC) will be required. Outside the RSC process, Phase Two ESA data can be used as rationale to eliminate APECs. Based on the review of previous Phase Two ESA information, the following is true for APECs based on previous work: APEC 5, 6 and 7: Testing was completed within the SJCB building and included PHC/BTEX and/or glycol testing and did not identify any impacts associated with the hydraulic elevator, former aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) or glycol spill. No further Phase Two ESA is required for these APECs. APEC 8: Several fill samples analysis have been undertaken on the Site, and other than the fill within the former buildings or waste sites (APECs 1, 2, 3), none of the fill was shown to exceed the provincial standards. However, given the size of the Site the risk associated with this APEC is reduced but not eliminated. APEC 9: Previous testing in the former agricultural areas of the Site included pesticide testing which did not identify any exceedances for the select pesticides evaluated. As such this APEC does not warrant any further evaluation. APECs 1, 2, 3 and 4 remain due to the presence of documented or suspected impacts above provincial standards, or where additional investigation is recommended for delineation purposes. If an RSC is required all APECs will require a subsequent Phase Two ESA. There were no material deviations to the Phase One ESA requirements set out in O.Reg. 153/04 that would cause uncertainty or absence of information that would affect the validity of the Phase One Conceptual Site Model or the findings of this Phase One ESA. ii March 2021 19127064 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... i 1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background and Objective ................................................................................................................... 1 2.0 SCOPE OF WORK .......................................................................................................................................... 2 3.0 RECORDS REVIEW ....................................................................................................................................... 3 3.1 General ................................................................................................................................................. 3 3.1.1 Phase One Study Area Determination ............................................................................................ 3 3.1.2 First Developed Use Determination ................................................................................................ 3 3.1.3 Fire Insurance Records ................................................................................................................... 3 3.1.4 Chain of Title ................................................................................................................................... 4 3.1.5 City Directories ................................................................................................................................ 4 3.1.6 Previous Reports............................................................................................................................. 4 3.2 Environmental Source Information ..................................................................................................... 12 3.2.1 ERIS Report .................................................................................................................................. 12 3.2.2 Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks ........................................................... 16 3.2.3 City of Ottawa ................................................................................................................................ 16 3.2.4 Technical Standards & Safety Authority, Fuels Safety Division ................................................... 16 3.3 Physical Setting Sources ................................................................................................................... 17 3.3.1 Aerial Photographs ....................................................................................................................... 17 3.3.2 Topography, Hydrology and Geology ........................................................................................... 19 3.3.3 Fill Materials .................................................................................................................................. 20 3.3.4 Water Bodies and Areas of Natural Significance .......................................................................... 21 3.3.5 Well Records ................................................................................................................................. 21 3.4 Site Operating Records ...................................................................................................................... 21 4.0 INTERVIEWS ................................................................................................................................................ 22 5.0 SITE RECONNAISSANCE ..........................................................................................................................