To / Destinataire: Mayor and Members of Council
File/N° de fichier: T13-06-MAIN
From / Expéditeur Réjean Chartrand, Director, Economic Development and Strategic Projects
Subject / Objet Agreement in Principle with the Ottawa Airport Authority
Date: 21 March 2006

The purpose of this memorandum is to inform City Council of an agreement in principle we have reached with the Ottawa Airport Authority that permits the future use of certain airport lands in support of the North-South Light Rail expansion.

This agreement, which guarantees a future right of way into the Airport and a possible location for a new maintenance yard, is an important step in securing potential space for the expanded system to operate. As part of the agreement, the City will also have the option to determine if a Park and Ride facility is required in the future on Airport leased lands in the vicinity of the right of way and Bowesville Road.

Council members are aware that several sites are currently being reviewed for the future location of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) maintenance facility. The process to choose the final site has been set by the Ministry of the Environment. These sites are Walkley Yards, the Lester Road site adjoining the Airport Parkway and the Bowesville site south of the airport. As part of its initial assessment in the fall of 2005, staff had contacted the property owners for these sites to determine their availability in the marketplace.

The Walkley Yards, which are owned by CP Rail, are available for purchase and the Lester Road site is owned by the City and could also be made available for the purpose of locating the LRT maintenance facility. The Bowesville site is owned by Transport Canada and is currently under lease to the Airport Authority. Initial discussions had indicated that the right-of-way required for the LRT through the Airport Authority property would be made available to the City, but not the 42-acre site required to locate the maintenance facility.

With this new agreement, the Bowesville site is now available as an option for the City to consider. The Bowesville site provides a third, affordable option for the maintenance facility.

Generally, the parameters of the agreement in principle are as follows:

The Airport Authority agreed to provide, at a nominal rent of $1 the required 30-meter right of way, bus turnaround and transformer sites. In addition the Airport Authority agrees to provide both temporary and permanent access in areas mutually agreed to for construction purposes and for the servicing of the rail line and related facilities. The foregoing lands would be the subject of a nominal lease to run for the balance of the Airport Authority's head lease, plus the term of any renewal or options should renewals or options be exercised by the Crown and the Airport Authority.

The approximately 42 acre Bowesville site would be leased for the balance of the Airport Authority's head lease, plus the term of any renewal or options should renewals or options be exercised by the Crown and the Airport Authority. The lease would call for a rent free period for years 1 to 5, and in subsequent years would be set based on market value.

Should the City determine a Park and Ride is required the Airport Authority will lease 30 acres of land on the same terms as agreed to for the Bowesville site outlined above.

In parallel with the above, the City will make available to the Airport Authority 20 litres per second of sanitary sewer capacity over and above their current allotment.

As stated previously, this is part of an agreement in principle that we have reached with the Airport Authority. A formal staff recommendation will be presented to Committee and Council for approval, likely in May 2006.

Should you have any questions on this, or any other LRT issue, please contact me directly.

Original signed by:

Réjean Chartrand

cc: Kent Kirkpatrick, City Manager
Ned Lathrop, Deputy City Manager, Planning and Growth Management
Richard Hewitt, Deputy City Manager, Public Works and Services
Steve Kanellakos, Deputy City Manager, Community and Protective Services
Greg Geddes, Chief Corporate Services Officer
Barry Townsend, Manager, Light Rail Implementation