Discussions for the on-again-off-again regional field house are regaining steam, but without one of the project’s partners.

High River Mayor Les Rempel said the Town has other priorities it has to focus on and won’t be participating in the process.

“We certainly haven’t agreed to go back in. At this point we decided we are going to be focusing on some of our local needs first,” said Rempel.

He said a proposal from Sprung Instant Structure that would significantly reduce the construction cost for a field house wasn’t enough to bring High River back into the project.

The Aldersyde-based company unveiled a proposal last fall that would cost a fraction to build compared to a conventional structure.

Sprung proposed an estimated $10 million facility which would include two basketball courts, two volleyball courts, a soccer field and an indoor track. A support building would house a cafeteria, change rooms and a 5,000-square-foot training area. The facility could also include an outdoor soccer pitch.

An earlier proposal unveiled last May, which included two or three indoor fields, an indoor running track, sports training areas and outdoor fields and tennis courts had a price tag of $43 million. The price could be reduced to $35.7 million if built with two indoor fields and outdoor facilities, or an additional $7.4 million if a third indoor field was built.

Discussions between the municipalities broke down over the high cost of the project.

Okotoks Mayor Bill McAlpine said the remaining partners — the towns of Okotoks, Black Diamond and Turner Valley and the MD of Foothills — have restarted work on the field house.

He said the Sprung proposal helped to breath life back into the project and it’s an option that is still on the table.

“They came in with some good numbers. When it came in at $41 million, everybody just backed away,” said McAlpine. “Then, when they came in with their proposal… we could handle that as partners.”

He said the first step is to find a location for the facility.

With High River out of the picture, he said they will consider locations further west than the Aldersyde area.

“We’re going to look at other options, but Aldersyde may still turn out to be the best option, but we’re also looking at the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir, (Calgary) Polo Club area,” he said.

He said an important deciding factor will be finding a site big enough to accommodate the facility.

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