The former YMCA job placement centre, seen here being used in a fire department training exercise on April 11, will be demolished according to the city's land department.--News Photo Collin Gallant
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The city will demolish the building it owns at the corner of First Street and Maple Avenue, and may need to leave the river-facing property bare for the foreseeable future to accommodate two abandoned natural gas wells near the former YMCA jobs centre.
The municipal land department updated councillors on the property at committee meeting on Thursday, saying the city-owned building hasn’t been leased for several years and would need major repair work before re-leasing it to another tenant.
“Substantial work would be required,” said city real estate manager Randi Buckner, who cited the overall age of the 1971-built former health office and critical condition of the roof and mechanical systems.
“It’s a high-profile location and we want to update council on plans for it.”
The city has owned the land since 1908, according to a staff memo, and is still monitoring gas wells from that era on the land.
Ten years ago, it was promoted as a private-sector development site as the city examined its holdings with an eye to bolster investment. It was also posed by councillors as a move to address complaints from the development community that most land along the river in downtown Medicine Hat – from the Public Library of Fourth Avenue past Athletic Field in the River Flats – comprises only municipal or provincial buildings.
Committee chair Coun. Darren Hirsch told committee Thursday that he has heard many people discuss the potential for the property over the years, but that may be unrealistic.
“(The building) is a long-lived asset that has been long-lived, but my questions are about what’s next,” he said. “What’s the game plan for the wells, or do we re-list it for sale?”
In the short term, the site would be left vacant in case the wells need to be reopened and reworked, said administrators. It could be subject to a short term, non-permanent use, like parking, but any future building would need to be set back from the wells to ensure access.
“We can’t do anything that leaves us at risk of not having access to (set up a rig to rework the well),” said Coun. Alison Van Dyke.
Hirsch said the situation is unfortunate, but reality.
“(The unlicensed well) is not owned by the City of Medicine Hat, but it’s an impediment,” he said
Two wells are currently capped and buried on the property, and are currently stable, according to the information provided.
One is licensed to the city’s energy company, and another, unlicensed well that actually sits in the adjacent turning lane from the Maple Avenue Bridge on to First Street heading east.
Environment director Kevin Redden, whose office oversees the city’s abandoned well inventory, said the unlicensed well is among several in the city that were drilled long ago by firms that no longer exist, or where ownership has become murky over the decades.
In several situations those wells are monitored by the city’s natural gas production department, though technically property of the Alberta Orphan Well Association.
Administrators have made an effort to further determine and certify ownership in a number of cases to avoid costs required of addressing mitigating methane leaks from hundred-year-old wells.
In the specific case, since the well is so close to a city well, it is difficult to determine which might be leaking. As well, a certain amount of natural ground methane is common in Medicine Hat owing to the shallow-nature of gas beds beneath the city, said Redden.
