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2. CHILDCARE CENTRE
REQUEST FOR FUNDING DEMANDE DE FINANCEMENT DE CENTRE DE SERVICES DE GARDE |
Committee Recommendation
That Council
approve the allocation of an additional $1,700,000.00 for the relocation, site
clean up and construction of a new childcare centre.
RECOMMANDATION
DU COMITÉ
Que Conseil approuve l'octroi d'une somme supplémentaire de 1 700 000 $
devant servir à éponger les frais de déménagement, de nettoyage du site et de
construction du nouveau centre de services de garde.
Documentation
1.
Deputy
City Manager's report, City Operations dated 7 May 2009 (ACS2009-COS-RCS-0008).
Community and Protective Services Committee
Comité des services communautaires et de protection
and Council/et au conseil
Submitted by/Soumis par: Steve Kanellakos, Deputy City Manager/
Directeur municipal adjoint,
City Operations/Opérations
municipales
Contact Person/Personne ressource: Aaron Burry, General Manager
Recreation
and Community Services/ Loisir et services communautaires
(613)
580-2424 x 23666, aaron.burry@ottawa.ca
SUBJECT:
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OBJET :
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That the Community and Protective Services Committee recommend that Council approve the allocation of an additional $1,700,000.00 for the relocation, site clean up and construction of a new childcare centre.
Que le Comité des
services communautaires et de protection recommande
au Conseil d'approuver l'octroi d'une somme supplémentaire de 1 700 000 $
devant servir à éponger les frais de déménagement, de nettoyage du site et de
construction du nouveau centre de services de garde.
On May 28, 2008 City Council approved funding in the amount of $1,004,240.00 for the construction of a new 3,000 square feet city childcare facility in order to maintain the existing services provided at Huron Towers Childcare Centre. The funding was allocated from the Child Care Reserve.
With this funding in place, a more comprehensive study was made which highlighted that the Ministry of Children and Youth Services had for over 30 years approved exceptions to the regulations in order that Huron Towers Child Care centre which serves a needy community could continue and grow to serve children in the area.
As a result, in order to meet current legislative requirements of square footage per child which is being required by the ministry, the proposed replacement centre must grow by an additional 2,000 square feet for essentially the same number of children. An additional 500 square feet is recommended in order to better support the program, offer the possibility of before and after school care and provide flexibility to make modest changes over the lifespan of the centre in order to meet changing needs.
Therefore, this report recommends the allocation of additional funds in the amount of $1,700,000.00 from the Childcare Reserve to construct the new childcare facility. As previously identified and approved by Council, the new facility will maintain the current level of service for a low income area.
The preliminary stage of the site analysis demonstrated that the proposed site meets the recommended Planning and Design Guidelines for Childcare Centres, as outlined by the Province of Ontario, Ministry of Children and Youth Services. The original RPAM Architecture estimate of $1,004,420 was based on a new 3,000 sq. ft., basic wood frame, and slab on grade childcare centre on City owned land. The additional square footage proposed would increase the facility size to 5500 square feet. Borden Farm Child Care Centre, another municipal operated facility is comparable in size at 5,508 sq/ft. accommodating the same number of children without the school-age before and after school program.
The cost estimate is based on a minimum average cost of $491 sq. ft. and includes, demolition, LEED certified construction, site servicing, consulting fees and all contingencies. This square footage nicely houses 15 toddlers, 32 pre-school and 15 Before/After-School children. The proposed costs per square feet are similar to other completed child care centres such as the addition in 2008 to Andrew Fleck Child Care Centre at $554/sq/ft. (3,100 sq. ft. with unfinished basement).
City Policy requires the construction of facilities 5000 sq ft and over to be LEEDS Certified. The additional funds would allow the City to implement the green initiatives required to achieve the LEEDS Silver Level of certification. It would be the first LEEDS Silver Childcare centre in Canada.
The new childcare centre will be designed as a one storey, barrier free, structure with play area adjacent to the building. It will incorporate low VOC emitting(Volatile Organic Compounds) surface materials and finishes and high energy efficient windows and doors, radiant floor heating, solar passive heating and other LEED Standard where funding allows, that would help the City to achieve the Silver standard. The construction of the building will convey the ecology theme and influence the childcare programming to emphasize ecology and the environment as part of the children's activities.The childcare centre building will achieve as build form many of the objectives The Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario promotes such as environmental sustainability, waste and natural resource use reduction,environmental education from small projects for child to information sheets for parents.
The cost estimate associated with the new construction have been provided below:
New Construction per sq. ft.: $491 sq. ft including the off set including consultation fees - approx. $2,704,240.00
Approximate Total Capital Cost - $2,704,240.00.
Approximate Total Annual Operating Cost - RPAM’s operating budget would increase to cover the new building by $9,410.
New Construction to residential LEEDS Silver plus other sustainable initiatives is valued at: $280,900.00.
As a result of the added square footage, additional funds for operating costs would be required above the current operating budget to support the operation of the new facility. RPAM 's current operating budget for the Huron Towers property presently leased by the City, is insufficient to cover the operating costs for the new building given the additional square footage of the building, parking lot and playground; a budget increase is required and is exclusive of any program delivery costs. The new building will incorporate Green initiatives to provide a healthy built and landscaped environment, reduce operating costs through more effective construction and heating methods and reduce its environmental foot print by including radiant floor heating (maintains heat at lower floor level - a benefit to the children who spend the majority of theirplay and nap time on or very close to the the floor), a steel roof reflecting heat back rather than absorbing it and reducing aircondition requirements in summer, grey water retention for irrigating plants ( not food garden), and advanced on-site storm water management.
The Assessment (ESA) at 24 Capilano Drive was conducted by DST Consulting Engineers Inc. in November 2008. The purpose of the Phase I ESA was to look at the current and historical uses of the site and determine if there are any potential areas of concern associated with the site. Several areas of potential concern associated with the historical activities conducted at the site were documented in the Phase I ESA and it was recommended that a Phase II ESA be conducted to quantify the soil and groundwater conditions at the site. Terrapex Environmental Ltd. (Terrapex) conducted a Phase II ESA (January 2009) and a Supplemental Phase II ESA (March 2009). The results of these Phase II ESA investigations indicated that a small area of soil (50 m2, totaling approximately 60 tonnes) was found to contain boron (a metal) in excess of the applicable Ministry of the Environment (MOE) criteria. This area of impacted soil will be excavated and disposed of off-site prior to construction of the proposed new structure.
The Phase II ESA investigations also identified a small area west of the existing site building that was found to have petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) impacted groundwater.
The PHC groundwater impacts will be cleaned up using an in-situ bioremediation compound upon removal of the existing site structure.
In addition, based on the age of the site building, a Designated Substances Survey (DSS) of the site structure was also recommended. The DSS was conducted by Terrapex in March 2009 and confirmed that asbestos is not present in the site structure but lead and mercury based paints are present. If the site structure is to be demolished, the disposal of construction waste containing lead or mercury must be conducted in accordance with the Waste Management Regulation of the Environmental Protection Act.
Site investigation and clean up costs will be incurred due to the existing land conditions . An environmental scan was completed and $15,000 is required to remove soil from the site to ensure that a greener future is achieved.
The planning team provided residents with an opportunity to review and comment on the proposed Childcare Centre design at Community information session held on March 31st 2009 at the Emerald Plaza Library.
Provided
the new facility is operated in accordance with the provisions of the Day
Nurseries Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.D.2, there are no legal impediments to
implementing the recommendation in this report.
Risk Management implications: The environmental assessments indicate the existence of boron (a metal) in excess of the applicable Ministry of the Environment criteria that will be excavated and disposed of off-site prior to construction of the proposed new structure and accordingly the contractor hired by the City to complete the site remediation must be a qualified remediation expert who carries pollution liability insurance, such as Environmental Site Liability (ESL) and/or Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL), that is satisfactory to the City's Coordinator of Insurance Services. It is essential that these requirements be noted in the request for proposal that the City issues with respect to this project as this type of insurance is costly.
The additional funding requested in the amount of $1,700,000 would be charged to the Child Care Reserve Fund. The increased facility maintenance cost identified in the amount of $9,410 to support the additional square footage would represent an added budget pressure for 2010. The existing approved Huron Towers Child Care operating budget has sufficient funds to support the operation of the new facility from a programming perspective.
Document
1 - Site plan of the Proposed Project.
Document 2- Class "C" Project Cost Estimate
Community and Social Services Department will act upon any direction received as part of consideration of this report.