(Column) This is the Life: Rec centre needs a kick-start
By Lorne Eckersley
Creston Valley Advance
It is hard to believe that it’s now been almost a year since I was appointed to the design team for the new aquatic centre and community complex upgrades. The November 2006 referendum had approved taxation to borrow money for the project, a decision that issued a loud and clear statement: We’re proud of Creston and we’re willing to spend money to make it a better place to live. A strong advocate of the project, I was proud to commit the necessary time and effort.
The creation of a volunteer design team — four appointed members-at-large and representatives from the Creston Valley Aquatic Society and the Friends of the Community Complex — was intended to distance the regional district directors from the planning process. Mayor Joe Snopek and directors John Kettle, Tom Mann and Verna Mayers-McKenzie (who comprise the Regional District of Central Kootenay regional services committee, chaired by Kettle) were of one voice at that time — they didn’t want to politicize the project. It was wise decision, too, because not one of them had expected the referendum to pass. The voter approval, to paint a not particularly pretty picture, had caught them with their political pants down around their ankles.
The design team started out with a research phase, visiting some projects and reading about and viewing photos of others. The intent was to get each member up to speed with what recent projects had achieved and to have the opportunity to learn what worked and what didn’t in those efforts. Soon the actual design process began, starting with the concepts created prior to the referendum, which followed a number of community forums whose intent was to get input from area residents.
Unfortunately, the process was faced with a major challenge — there was no structural analysis complete for the entire recreation facility. It was in the works but hadn’t been finalized before the referendum. When information from the structural studies came in it became evident that there were other concerns that would have to be addressed before a final design could be completed for an aquatic centre, fitness facilities, new hockey change rooms, improvements to the curling rink and general upgrades to the current recreation centre building.
Was a new roof needed? Was the hockey rink in decent condition? How would the new facilities connect with the old? These, and many more, questions had to be worked through. Those needs, not wants, will total more than $4 million.
The working concepts for the new aquatic centre at that point were cumbersome — the idea had always been to build a new indoor pool where the existing outdoor one now stands. It made for a long, inefficient building that posed severe problems for efficient public access and staffing.
But a new idea came about, that of placing the aquatic facility to the west of the existing building, and soon the design began to fall nicely into place. The main entry to the entire facility would be from the new construction, providing the public with what we referred to as “the wow factor”, a view of the recreation and lap pools in the aquatic portion of the facility. A couple of extremely long meetings seemed to resolve all the issues and, in November, the design and cost estimates were delivered to the regional directors.
“You’ve done it. I didn’t think it could be done, but you’ve done it,” was John Kettle’s comment to the design team.
We walked out of that meeting thinking that only some fine-tuning would be required and that tenders for construction would allow for construction early in the new year. But then that old law kicked in — nothing is as easy as it seems. RDCK staff objected to the new entrance, which would require either a lengthy walk for hockey players to get to the change rooms, or the occasional opening of a secondary entrance. That led to a complete redesign of the south side of the existing recreation centre, adding more space and an entirely new entrance. ”It’s better,” was the general consensus, and the additional $1 million-plus cost was brushed aside as being a detail that could be worked into the budget.
Later this spring, the design team was called together to hear a presentation from a company that makes and sells stainless steel swimming pools. We were told that such a pool was priced competitively with the traditional concrete ones, but added to construction flexibility and lower maintenance costs. Considering that option took more time. The design team took it to be an eleventh-hour effort to improve the project and while there was concern that it was adding to already-frustrating time frame for construction, it was worth the delay. The stainless steel pool seemed like a new option to us — only later did we learn that the project’s architect had used the product in other facilities.
Since the spring, communication to the volunteers from RDCK staff, architectural firm and project managers slowed to a trickle. A badly timed groundbreaking ceremony was held, long before any real construction would start. A local resident was hired to become the construction site manager in an effort to bring home some of the decision-making. Well into summer, some tenders were finally put out. Of course, by now many contractors have long since committed to projects that will keep them busy into the winter.
Last week, I wrote an article in which Area B director John Kettle and Mayor Joe Snopek expressed their frustration. With still no final drawings for the aquatic centre in hand, and no bids for construction except for some smaller portions of the project, there is growing concern that the costs of the project are higher than voters were told to expect when they passed the referendum. Until the actual tenders are let, however, no one really knows for certain.
Whether the design team, all volunteers, has served out its purpose (to represent the community’s interests in creating a design that will meet present and future needs) is unclear. One member, who got no response to his recommendation that the team, its mission complete, be disbanded, has resigned.
On the bright side, as I write this on Tuesday, word is that equipment is being moved onto the site and work, at least on the change rooms, will start this week. I’m still not all gloom and doom about the project — I think there are enough able people involved to pull it off. Nor am I particularly concerned about a motion made by Kettle and passed by RDCK directors to cap the spending on this phase of what has become a two-phase project. The money available should be sufficient, I still believe, to build a facility that will serve our community for many years to come.
Lorne Eckersley is the publisher of the Creston Valley Advance.
