Potential Methane Issue Closes John McGivney Centre Parking Lot

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The City of Windsor has fenced off the south parking lot used by the John McGivney Children’s Centre to comply with an order from the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change while discussions on methane mitigation related to the nearby Malden landfill continue.

“We want to apologize to the families and staff that use that south parking lot”, said City Engineer Mark Winterton. “We know losing the parking lot is an inconvenience and we hope the inconvenience will be as temporary as possible”.

The city was planning to install a vapor barrier in the parking lot to prevent the potential of methane migration from the landfill and the city had closed a tender for the construction. As a result of discussions with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, the City wanted to make sure it would be in a position to fully comply with the Environmental Compliance Approval conditions. As a result the award of tender for the barrier was deferred.

“We don’t want to spend money installing a barrier if it will not adequately address the concerns of the MOECC, that would be a waste”, said Winterton. “So we’re fencing off the parking lot while we meet with the ministry again to see what we can work it out”.

There have been no readings of methane in the McGivney building itself, and there have been no change in readings in the parking lot south of the building. However, the parking lot sits on a closed landfill so some methane is inherent to the location.

The city will provide parking for staff of the building nearby at Mic Mac Park.