Okotoks safety codes officer Rob Mueller inspects the nearly completed Okotoks Municipal Centre on Feb. 29. The centre is scheduled to open in mid-April. photo by Lindsey Hanhart |
By Don Patterson
Staff Reporter
It’ll be moving day for the Town of Okotoks in just over a month from now.
The Town will move in to its new home in April as construction on the new municipal centre nears completion.
Municipal manager Rick Quail said the expected completion date for the project was March 2008 and construction will finish on time.
“In this construction market, when you consider a three-month tear down and a 12-month construction program, the construction industry will say that that’s excellent performance,” he said.
The project was initially estimated to cost $4.7 million in April 2006. A revised estimate made later that year saw the final price tag rise to $6.9 million.
Quail said work was delayed in December due to the holiday season, but is back on track and construction is expected to be completed by March 12. Town staff will move into the new building April 11 to 14.
Quail said the building is expected to use less than half the energy of a similar sized building. Energy efficient upgrades include radiant heating, light energy capture technology, solar hot water systems and solar photo-voltaic systems.
Over the next few weeks, the final phase of work will be completed in stages, starting with the second floor, followed by the first floor and, lastly, the town council chamber.
At present, work on the second floor is nearly complete and final electrical installation was scheduled for last week. The town council chambers will be completed after March 15 when equipment and furniture installation is expected to begin. Landscaping around and in front of the building will continue as weather permits. The front of the building will feature benches, plants and a public gathering area.
The Town will show its new digs to the community with an open house sometime later in the spring.
Staff from the existing town office will be joined in the new municipal centre by the Town’s development services and IT group. The IT group is currently located in the Heritage House and the development services building is located in the business park on Fisher Street.
The development services building will be sold to Bowmark Paving for $1.521 million. The company’s bid was the highest of Five offers made for the building. Quail said the Town purchased the site in 1998 for $480,000.
The Town will retain ownership of the current town office building on McRae Street. Quail said the Town is in discussions with Community Futures Highwood over the group’s possible use of the building.
The building will be preserved and renamed the Stockton Building.
“It’s still an integral part of our operations because we’ll be using parts of it for file storage,” Quail added.
The new town parking lot, located next to the Okotoks Library will reserved for Town staff during daytime hours on workdays, and will be open to the public on evenings and weekends. As well, the existing town council chamber building will be torn down and will become a municipal parking facility.
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