A vigilant resident has raised important concerns about the potential movement of termite infested soil from a red zone block to a white zone block.
This concern has been paramount in all of our minds for a long time, and I have therefore been involved from the early planning stages for the TransCanada Trail, and have been in close contact with the contractor as the project has progressed.
As soon as I heard of the potential situation yesterday, I made a site inspection. A1 Asphalt was actually working at two separate locations on this day. One area between Clarence and Earl is a Blue zone block and I had previously inspected all the wood in this area for termites. There was no evidence of termite in any of
the many stumps and logs that were flipped with heavy equipment for inspection and in none the many trees that were cut (I examined all basal cross sections).
I therefore cleared all of this wood for removal (which is our standard procedure). I also allowed organic soil and stumps from this area to be removed to the temporary storage in the Arm Tech lot. It was this soil (which was inspected, cleared and in any rate is termite free (since it is a blue zone) that was initially seen going to the ArmTech lot.At the same time, A1 Asphalt was working farther along, in the red zone block between Clarence and George Streets. Again, all the logs and trees in this area were inspected and there has been no evidence of termites in the trail area, even though this whole block Is classified as a red zone. As a precaution, since this it is a red zone area, I have required A1 to compact all soil by first excavating it, then spreading it out and running a heavy vibratory compactor machine 6 times over the soil before clearing it for removal. This compaction process started around 11:00am yesterday and all loads to ArmTech thereafter were
of compacted soil that I had cleared. Remember that no termite have been seen in this area of the trail and even if there were any, the excavation, grading, compaction and re-excavation procedure will surely kill all termites that might have been in the soil.I appreciate the vigilance of the local area residence. I understand and share their concern. Please rest assured that the contractor is fully aware of the issue and is working closely with
me to ensure that there will be no movement of termites as a result of the TransCanada trail Project. Staff~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
It has come to my attention that on Sept 20 and 21, 2010 A1 construction (who was contracted by the city to construct the trail adjacent the rail tracks between Speedvale and Marcon) excavated soil from a termite red zone (between George and Clarence) and moved it and dumped it to a lot on Earl St. N W of the tracks which is a white zone. There is a bylaw in place that prohibits the moving of soil from a termite zone to a non termite zone. Was the soil tested ? I have concerns that that red zone soil may be used as fill adjacent my house which is in a blue zone. I would appreciate you and the city trail management team to look into this matter and let me know what’s going on. BW