The city's $53-million recreation project being constructed at 255 West Street is not likely to open this fall as was originally planned.
A variety of delays means the new aquatic centre may not open until early 2019, city council learned Monday night through a report from the recreation project team. Staff say they are working "aggressively" with the project's general contractor to get the project open as soon as possible.
While council was disappointed with the delays - Coun. Ted Emond said he had hoped to have a polling station in this November's municipal election at the new facility - they were told such delays are typical in a project of this magnitude.
Despite those delays - and almost $490,000 worth of change orders - the project is on budget, to date. Kent Guptil, director of facilities and special projects for the city, said he anticipates the project will come in on budget even though he cautioned that unforeseen circumstances can happen.
The update provided to council committee Monday night outlined details related to construction, which began in September of 2016. That fall and ensuing spring focused on site works, site utility preparation, soil preparation for the building construction, which included the installation of 1,450 geopiers, the placement of the synthetic clay liner and the import of soil from West Orillia.
In the spring of 2017, construction of the building began. This included the installation of concrete footings, foundation walls, pouring of pool basins, mechanical underground rough-ins, main electrical transformer installation and underground ventilation systems.
Key milestones that have commenced and/or nearing completion, include:
- Mechanical equipment for the penthouse has been delivered and set in place;
- Ventilation system under pool area;
- Import of fill from West Orillia (95% complete);
- Steel installation;
- Truss installation over the pool area; and
- Storm water tanks
Staff will continue to communicate with council and the public through rmonthly reports and when certain key milestones have been reached such as:
- Structural steel completion;
- Completion of pool ceiling;
- Building enclosure;
- Pool tiling completion;
- Interior common area tiling;
- Interior Mechanical and Electrical installations
Eighteen bi-weekly on-site construction meetings have been held since June 13, 2017 with the most recent meeting being held on Feb. 20, 2018. The meetings are contractor-led and follow a review of construction progress, which includes work completed in the previous two weeks and the work that is scheduled to be complete in the next two weeks, the documentation of health and safety issues, requests for information, site instructions and change orders.
The report was requested by Coun. Mason Ainsworth in the wake of a controversial closed-session meeting Feb. 5. Prior to the regular, open meeting, council held an almost two-hour closed session that Ainsworth, Coun. Sarah Valiquette-Thompson and Coun. Rob Kloostra felt should be held in an open forum.
At the time, Ainsworth told OrilliaMatters: “(It’s) about accountability of council and staff and of the municipality as a whole,” Ainsworth said. “If we’re talking about the rec centre, the timeline, money … those discussions can happen in the public realm and I don’t think they should be hidden away for political reasons, which is it’s an election year and some people don’t want to be embarrassed.”
Despite being unsuccessful in convincing the rest of his council colleagues to hold the meeting in public, he was successful in garnering support to have a report completed by staff.
Watch for more on council's debate on this issue tomorrow morning.
