Soil Remediation at 281 Front St. E – Important Update from Councillor Pam McConnell

Pam McConnell
Councillor, Ward 28 City Hall, 2nd Floor Tel: 416 392-7916
Toronto Centre-Rosedale 100 Queen St. West Fax: 416 392-7296
City of Toronto Toronto, Ontario TTY: 416 392-1239
M5H 2N2 councillor_mcconnell@toronto.ca

Soil Remediation at 281 Front St. E – Important Update

As you know, the City property at 281 Front St. East was exchanged for the last privately owned portion of the First Parliament Building site at 271 Front St. East. The owner is constructing a five story Data Management Centre on the property south of the Toronto Public Library building.

It was understood that because a coal gasification plant previously occupied the site, the soil was contaminated by coal tar by-products. Chemicals in coal tars can evaporate and be inhaled or absorbed through the skin, with exposure causing irritation of the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract. During initial excavation in March, a brick holding tank containing coal tar was discovered and higher levels of emissions were recorded. Construction was immediately halted in order to develop a comprehensive remediation plan.
Toronto Public Health, the Ministry of the Environment and the developer's consultants have been working closely to develop this plan and implement strict monitoring standards. The remedial activities will remove the contaminated soil from the site to safe disposal locations. This work will take several months, and during certain periods will require several dozen truck loads per day.

Specialized equipment has been placed by the Ministry of the Environment to ensure full compliance with their standards and to ensure no risk to the public or workers on site. Among the safety precautions:

• Real-time air monitoring to allow for immediate on-site response
• 24hr. air monitoring to compare the results with applicable provincial standards and health benchmarks
• Dust mitigation and odour control protocols

Public Health staff have underlined that when excavating coal tar-impacted soil, some odours may be released to the air. These odours can occur at low concentrations and do not indicate the presence of a health hazard.

I am confident that the professionals assigned to perform this work will ensure that the safety of the public is protected. For more information or to report any concerns, you can call Toronto Public Health at 416 392-7685 or the Ministry of the Environment at 1-800-268-6060.

Pam McConnell Councillor, Ward 28