FAQs

The primary impact of the new Transit Garage will be the noise associated with the buses, and the short-term noise impacts of construction. There is no need to acquire any private property for the Project. The Project team is currently working to complete a Noise Impact Assessment that will outline the expected noise emissions from the new Transit Garage and propose mitigations for reducing noise levels, if required. The Noise Impact Assessment will also help inform the concept design, so the design can reduce the noise impacts for surrounding properties. 

Other impacts such as traffic, stormwater, lighting, etc., will be determined as the Project progresses, and mitigations will be presented in the Environmental Project Report where appropriate.

The City purchased the former Canadian Canoe Museum property in 2025 to be used for a new Transit Garage. Prior to being used by the Canadian Canoe Museum, the property was an Outboard Marine Corporation manufacturing site.

The City has been able to use federal and provincial funding for environmental remediation and contaminant management to reduce the risk of contaminants moving off site and to make the site is safe for the new Transit Garage.

Work completed on the site so far includes removal of a portion of unstable warehouse which was necessary to provide safe access to remediation works. Permeable reactive barriers have been installed along the southern property boundary to remove contaminants from groundwater. Soils and materials with high concentration of contaminants have been removed and disposed, and contaminants that could not be removed have been encapsulated in permeable reactive barrier(s) to neutralize the contaminant. Monitoring wells have also been installed around the perimeter of the property to monitor the effectiveness of the mitigation measures.

The environmental remediation meets the applicable legislated and regulatory requirements under the approval of the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. Treatment barriers have been installed in the ground on the southern portion of the property and around areas where higher concentrations of contaminants were found. Various areas of contaminated soils and materials have also been removed and new monitoring wells have been installed.