The City of Prince Albert says a ground breaking for the facility will proceed once a revised funding plan has been considered. Bid prices are in for the construction of the new Aquatic and Arenas Recreation Centre with the lowest bid 35 per cent above the pre-tender estimate for the facility.
Mayor Greg Dionne says, “We need to move ahead with this project. It took us years to secure this kind of funding. If we delay now, we will lose the opportunity and it will never be built.”
At a Special Executive Committee meeting today members of City Council will consider two reports which recommend awarding the construction tender and a revised funding plan to cover the additional expenses for the facility which is now projected to cost $113.8 million. This cost includes all design fees, project management costs, project contingency, equipment and furniture and $6 million in PST costs.
The Director of Public Works, Wes Hicks, says construction costs are not going to go down and these are inflationary pressures out of the city’s control. Executive Committee recommendations if approved will be forwarded to the next City Council meeting on June 20, 2022 for final consideration and groundbreaking will start in July.
The revised funding plan continues to include no increase in property taxes to fund the new facility which will be achieved by: modifying non-functional elements which would reduce the build costs by $7 million; increasing borrowing by $30 million for a total borrowing of $46 million; securing $24 million in external dollars through provincial and federal funding and fundraising initiatives; and annual financing payments through the Civic Facilities Reserve and targeting property tax revenues from the Yard Development.
Under the proposed plan, the facility will be built with the same features as originally announced. On the aquatics side this includes an eight lane 25 meter competitive pool, 200 spectator seats, combined leisure, splash and wave pool, lazy river; two water slides and whirlpool. On the arenas side this includes two NHL size 200ft x 85ft rinks, seating for 366 in one rink and 608 in the other rink, player dressing rooms totaling 6,720 square feet and referee dressing rooms totaling 800 square feet.
To accommodate the projected additional borrowing the recommendation is for the City’s debt limit to increase from $75 million to $120 million.
