Campbell River city council has agreed to a plan to upgrade the city’s Sportsplex, which was tweaked to reduce costs.
After bids for the renovation work at the Sportsplex to fix its leaky roof, among other upgrades, came in over budget, city council directed staff to work with the lowest-bid contractor to find ways to reduce costs.
READ ALSO: Cost reductions sought in order to press ahead with much-needed Sportsplex upgrades
Now, a new plan developed by city staff has been approved, after city council voted unanimously in favour of it on Feb. 14.
The project’s cost was reduced from about $5.78 million to about $3.98 million by selecting an alternate roofing system subcontractor and material supplier, to no additional risk to the city, according to a report to council. Another $81,000 was saved by selecting an alternate window supply.
City staff also recommended a contingency amount, equal to 15 per cent of the project cost, to be included in the project budget. This is to be able to fund repairs that could be necessary to comply with building codes if any issues are uncovered during the work. This amount equates to about $623,000.
Including engineering costs ($251,000), the total project cost is now $4,773, 505.
This new cost exceeds what was budgeted for the project ($3.8 million) by $973,505. To secure these funds,the city’s 2022-2031 financial plan was amended to allocate to the project $700,000 from the Community Works reserve, $200,000 from the Gaming reserve, and $73,505 from the COVID-19 Safe Restart Grant.
In the council meeting, Mayor Andy Adams acknowledged the work by city staff to devise the new plan.
“Thank you for being creative and getting on with this long overdue project and to get our facility in decent operating condition,” said Adams.
Future of Campbell River Sportsplex will go to public consultation
sean.feagan@campbellrivermirror.com
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