The Town of Ajax has decided not to participate in the joint Durham Meadoway preliminary design study, and will not be entering into the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to share the cost, according to a council report.
Ajax’s share of the detailed design of the project cost was $119,292 plus the appropriate contingencies. This amount was not budgeted (see below).
The remaining participants now are Durham Region, the City of Oshawa, the City of Pickering and the Town of Whitby.
The Durham Meadoway is a 30 km active transportation and recreation corridor that will stretch from the Pickering/Toronto boundary to Harmony Road in Oshawa through the Gatineau Hydro Corridor as seen below.
The region completed the visioning study and received regional approval in June 2024. The study identified an estimated cost of $1.2 million (HST included) to complete the preliminary design, to be cost-shared between the City of Pickering, Town of Ajax, Town of Whitby, City of Oshawa and the region. Pickering’s share was estimated at 25.87 per cent or $310,442.00 (HST included) or $274,727.43 (excluding HST), according to a Pickering Council report of May 25th.
The total revised (excluding Ajax) estimated cost (as shown in MOU) will be $1,080,708.00 (HST included). The share allocated to Pickering will remain the same as $310,442.00 (HST included), it said.
City of Pickering’s share of the cost of the preliminary design services for the Durham Meadoway project as indicated in the MOU is estimated at $310,442.00 (HST included) or $279,563.00 (net HST).
As part of the 2026 current budget, the Durham Meadoway Class EA (including preliminary design) was approved as a project with a budget of $350,000 (net HST) as informed by the 2025 Development Charges Background Study.
The report asked that the Pickering mayor and city clerk be authorized to execute the Durham Meadoway Design Shared Services MoU in substantially the same form, subject to revisions as well as authorize that the total gross project cost of $341,486.00 (HST included) and the total net project cost of $307,519.00 (net HST) be approved.
The report also recommended that the director, finance & treasurer be authorized to fund the total net project cost of $307,519.00 (net HST) as follows:
- $153,759.00 be funded by a transfer from the Parks & Recreation Development Charges Reserve Fund
- $153,760.00 be funded by a transfer from the City Share Development Charges Reserve
The staff recommendation was presented to Pickering Council.