They called it “the latest bump in the road” at an emergency city council meeting on Tuesday night.
In reality, it’s a significant setback that could delay construction of Owen Sound’s regional recreation centre by at least another three months while continuing to add to a still-increasing bottom line.
But council has still voted unanimously to proceed with the project.
More soil problems have been discovered at Victoria Park, after 1.5 metres of earth was removed and replaced by engineered fill that’s better suited to support the 124 thousand square foot facility, now with a price tag of almost 39 million.
Council and the public were told by the architect that the latest issue is an aquifer that has made it impossible to drive supports into the ground.
That means special support beams have to be designed and built.
The architect says they’ll also have to ‘dewater’ the aquifer.
The whole thing will add another 2 million dollars to the construction cost and push the timeline back another three or four months.
A contingency will cover most of the additional cost but the time delay raises important issues.
The federal and provincial governments are committed to paying for portions of the project completed by the end of next March.
The city has been told that applications for extensions to that deadline will not be accepted.
The construction schedule had estimated that just under 21 million dollars would be spent by the deadline.
But because of the delay — that figure gets reduced to just under 14 million.
That means the City could be on the hook for almost 22 million dollars — 5 million more than the last estimate.
If that ends up being the case — the City will cover the additional cost through a pair of debentures – one for 9 million, to be repaid with revenues from Georgian Bay Energy interest, and one for 14 million, to be repaid through tax dollars.
Naturally, councillors have recommitted themselves to lobbying and working to ensure the federal and provincial governments come through with full funding even though the rec centre will certainly not be finished by next March.
Mayor Ruth Lovell Stanners says council has also committed on Monday to spending as much money as possible prior to the deadline, buying large-ticket items and storing them until they’re ready for use.
Councillor Jim McManaman reiterated that the risk of not going forward with this project far outweighs the risk of going ahead.
Councillor Bill Twaddle calls this a “generational project” that, despite the setbacks and the cost, still has the support of the vast majority of the public in the city.
Councillor Deb Haswell says it’s a “building block of the community.”