New leisure centre budget capped at $45 million

New leisure centre budget capped at $45 million

News

By: Sandra Bolan

The budget for Bradford West Gwillimbury’s new leisure centre won’t exceed $45 million.

The decision to implement a limit on the cost of the complex was made after the facilities committee received a preliminary budget of $48.6 million for the design it decided to work from.

“These are not hard numbers, but they do have to come down a bit lower,” Ward 2 Councillor James Leduc said.

“We see this quite a bit on projects,” Ron Spina of MHPM Projects Managers said. “Where we go back to our design team to get it closer to whatever our budget is.”

Up until this time, the committee did not have a firm budget because it did not know the cost of what it wanted. The committee only had ball-park estimates from the town’s finance department and the final costs of other similar facilities to work with.

“Our budget numbers have actually changed quite a bit,” Jay Currier, Bradford West Gwillimbury’s chief administrative officer, said.

The bulk of the leisure complex’s cost comes from the actual building of the facility, which is estimated to be $39.875 million. All costing was based on a 145,000-square-foot building with a per square foot cost of $275.

Professional fees are projected to come in at $2.264 million, site work at $2 million, furniture and fixtures at $1.25 million, fees/bonding/insurance at $37,200 and contingency fees at $3.217 million.

Not only did the numbers come in higher than the $43.5 million projected two weeks ago, but the size of the building jumped from 145,000 to about 151,000 square feet.

Dropping the building back down to its original size, while maintaining its features, should not be a problem, the committee heard.

“There’s a lot of room to push and pull and we obviously need to do that,” Bill Lett of Salter, Pilon and Lett, said. “After that, we’re nit-picking and sacrificing some public areas.”

One area that might need to be adjusted is the 1,000-seat ice pad.

The larger seating capacity for one of the two pads was put into the new drawings based on a recommendation from Mike O’Hare, Bradford West Gwillimbury’s manager of parks, facilities and cemeteries, who noted an arena with a certain number of seats, typically between 800 and 1,000, must be available if the town wants to attract more competitive hockey, such as a junior B team.

“Do we really want to build this arena and put this town in debt for something that might (happen)?” Ward 5 Councillor Ron Simpson asked.

Ward 3 Councillor John McCallum said while 1,000 seats might not be necessary, some additional seating is, adding the arena would not only be used for hockey, but also to attract entertainment acts.

In an attempt to avoid large tax hikes, Bradford West Gwillimbury is applying to the Building Canada Fund to help pay for the new leisure centre.

The $45 million budget limit was set in the hopes the town would receive money from the fund.

“I think, at the end of the day, I want to offer a structure that delivers as much programming as possible to our residents, who need and deserve it,” Mr. Currier said.

The facilities committee meets again on Nov. 17, at which time a revised drawing for a 145,000 square foot building and a reworked budget are expected to be presented.

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