Saturday, December 5, 2009

Owen Sound Rec Centre Pushed Ahead

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Owen Sound
by Jonathon Jackson    

Owen Sound has some clarity into its regional recreation centre issues.

The city decided at a special council meeting yesterday to push on with construction of the 125,000-square foot facility at Victoria Park, with no changes to the project.

The two-rink, two-pool complex will be built in the preferred footprint along 10th Street East and 8th Avenue East. Construction is expected to start in January.

Recent soil reports have indicated the site did not have sufficient load-bearing capacity, but soil remediation worth an estimated 1 million dollars will be done to ensure the building will be well supported.

Alternate sites for the complex were considered but the cost of purchasing the necessary land and making it suitable for construction was deemed too steep.

Funding issues are also being clarified.

The rec centre’s steering committee has trimmed the expected cost of the centre to 37.5 million dollars.

The current available funding for the project is just shy of 35 million, leaving a new shortfall of 2.66 million.

Owen Sound will increase its commitment from just under 6 million dollars to 8.649 million and will pay this cost by taking out a debenture on interest earned by Georgian Bay Energy reserves.

The debenture will be amortized over 15 years as opposed to the usual 10-year debenture.

The increased cost, because it’s being addressed by a longer-term debenture, will not have an impact on tax rates.

And all major elements in the project will remain, addressing concerns from councillors

The city will also approach its partners in the project, the Family Y and Georgian Bluffs about assisting with the new financial commitment.

Other potential partners, like other local municipalities, will also be approached and invited to participate in the hope of spreading the costs around to more potential users.

And there’s potential good news on the funding front from the federal and provincial levels of government.

Council was told on Friday that a provision of the contribution agreement between the city, feds and province allows for an adjustment to available funding if unforeseen circumstances pose a hurdle to an approved project.

The city plans to cite the soil issues at Victoria Park as such a circumstance.