Council approves budget hike for Green Line LRT, cutting 6 stations from Phase 1

Calgary's city council has voted to cut six stations from Phase 1 of the Green Line LRT megaproject, and to increase its budget to over $6.2 billion.

The proposed new line would run from Eau Claire to Lynnwood/Millican instead of Eau Claire to Shepard, making it much shorter than originally anticipated.

A new maintenance and storage facility will be built at Highfield station. The rest of the southeast line — including stations at Ogden, South Hill, Quarry Park, Douglas Glen and Shepard — will be built out when more funding becomes available. 

Council also voted in favour of changing Fourth Street S.E. to an above ground stop as opposed to a below ground station, to allow for integration with the province's proposal for a future passenger rail system. 

And the full buildout of the planned Centre Street underground station in the Beltline will be postponed.

The project's budget has ballooned with council approving a $700 million increase in costs, up from the previously reported $5.5 billion. 

To make up that difference, the city will draw on multiple sources, including projected tax growth and 75 per cent of future operational savings, with $208 million set to be drawn from a city reserve fund. 

Not what Calgarians were expecting, say councillors

The decisions come after a day of closed door meetings between members of the board that is overseeing the Green Line, city council and administration. 

Changes to the scope of the project itself were recommended by the Green Line board, while budget adjustments were proposed by the city's chief financial officer on behalf of administration.

"Today's decision is more than a decade in the making and sets Calgary up for success for years to come, especially at a time when we are the fastest growing city in the nation," said Mayor Jyoti Gondek.

"The Green Line is a critical piece of transportation infrastructure that demonstrates all three orders of government are focused on collaboration and c-ooperation to get megaprojects moving." 

During the public session of the meeting, councillors debated the merits of finally moving forward with a project that has been in the making for a decade, but delivering something much smaller in scale and with a higher price tag. 

"Calgarians will feel disappointed. I feel that some might actually feel duped," said Coun. Sonya Sharp. 

"We are paying far more for far less and we're draining and eliminating our future savings.… I'm not against the Green Line, but I would have liked to have seen the money go towards a portion of the line that would have tied in to the Red Line and Blue Line and better serve the south."

Coun. Courtney Walcott said he thought council members should be proud about taking a step forward on the project, despite its change in scope. 

"Is it the full line? No. Is it where we wanted it to to go fully? Absolutely not," he said.

"This is a moment here where we had an opportunity to simply just say we need to get these tracks in the ground. We need to start building this train so we can keep building." 

Ultimately, council members voted 10-5 in favour of the changes to the project, with councillors Sonya Sharp, Dan McLean, Jennifer Wyness, Sean Chu and Andre Chabot voting against. 

Starting with downtown only way to keep fed funding

In a later press conference, Green Line board chair Don Fairbairn said the changes to the project were the "best value option" among rising costs of goods and services. 

"We chose to recommend a phased approach that could be funded by the existing commitments from the senior partners, our federal and provincial partners," said Fairbairn.

He added that choosing to start with the downtown portion of the line is the best option to support future extensions to the north and south, while ensuring connectivity to the already existing red and blue lines.

Gondek said the altered vision for Phase 1 of the Green Line was the only way the project could move forward while still meeting the threshold criteria for federal and provincial funds through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP)

In a letter addressed to Gondek dated July 26, Sean Fraser, the federal minister of housing, infrastructure and communities, said Ottawa would need to assess any changes made to the project to ensure it still qualified for funding under ICIP. The project was previously approved for up to $1.5 billion in financing through the reserve. 

"From the federal government's perspective, a scope change and re-committal of the full amount of funding to the project would require full details of the project so that we may ensure that the de-scoped project continues to meet the objectives of ICIP," reads the letter.

"To make this determination, a new business case will need to be submitted and assessed by our Treasury Board."

Fraser said that business case would need to be submitted to his department by Aug. 15.

Construction on the Green Line is set to begin later this fall.