By Mark Squibb
Mount Pearl council has taken a major step in the future development of the land north of Topsail Road,
Councillor Bill Antle advised his council colleagues October 29 that staff have received two proposals from engineering companies seeking to act as consultants for the City, or in the new bureaucratic parlance, provide “Owners Advisor Services” for the North of Topsail Road project.
After reviewing the proposals, staff recommended that council award the contract to Altus Group.
“Altus’ team will provide services in areas such as project management, business consultation, legal, architecture, surveying, cost estimating, risk management, civil and geotechnical engineering, inspection and commissioning, landscape architecture, environmental, and planning,” said Antle. “Services will be billed on an as-needed basis up to the agreed limit. The Altus Team will act on the City’s behalf to facilitate development of lands north of Topsail Road —everything say from behind Avalon Ford and on the other side of Wyatt Boulevard.”
Altus proposed to provide its services for a three-year period, but staff will review the proposal at the end of the first year to determine if it will be extended, Antle said.
Staff recommended council contract Altus Group to a maximum limit of $862,143, HST included, for one year.
“This is a huge amount of money,” admitted councillor Jim Locke. “But this is a significant development in the City of Mount Pearl… This is the last vacant area to this scale that we can develop, and I’m glad that councillor Antle outlined all the professional services that are enrolled in this particular contract. There’s a lot of expertise required here. And as good as our staff are, we don’t have all the in-house expertise necessary to organise and plan something of this scale. So, I just wanted to highlight that while it’s a lot of money, there’s a lot of services for that money, and I’m hoping this development is going to be unique, it’s going to be a destination.”
Councillor Mark Rice also expressed support for the contract.
“There are so many parts of this puzzle that need to come together to make this work,” said Rice. “And getting a group that has expertise in all these areas is so important to us. Like councillor Locke mentioned, we don’t have all the expertise at the City, and we’re maxed out with staff in certain areas, but having this group come on board now, and getting us going in the right direction and supporting us and having a team approach is very important.”
Mayor Dave Aker noted that while the City has excellent engineering, planning, and finance staff, the scope of the project, which includes the planning of a water tower, is beyond the capability of City staff alone.
“We need to calculate for a variety of developers and a variety of landowners, and it’s important that the City recover it’s cost at the end of the day though a system of levies, and I think the Altus Group will be playing a major role, especially in the business development side,” said Aker. “The business model will be key to moving this forward.”
Director of Corporate Services Cassie Rideout said staff have been meeting with Altus Group, and that a return of investment for the City has been a high priority in the discussions.
“We’ve started that work with Altus already, and we understand the importance of being transparent with developers and being able to say, ‘Look, this is going to be the levy that we recover for the build of this long-term project,’” said Rideout. “We’re building, almost, a small community within our community.”
Councill Antle had the final say before the matter went to a vote.
“I sometimes hear people say, ‘How does Mount Pearl grow? What’s next?’ And Northlands is it. North of Topsail Road is where we are,” said Antle, who added the motion to award the contract is the culmination of several years work in preparing the area for development.
The area may accommodate upwards of 2,000 homes, and council hopes much of the $862,000 will be recouped through levies on their development.
The motion passed unanimously.
