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Council approves rink twinning budget

This hockey season will bring more than the Okotoks Oilers to the Pason Centennial Arena. Council approved a $15 million construction project for the arena expansion June 13, with work slated to begin this fall.

This hockey season will bring more than the Okotoks Oilers to the Pason Centennial Arena.

Council approved a $15 million construction project for the arena expansion June 13, with work slated to begin this fall. The majority of the funds are expected to come from a $12 million municipal sustainability initiative grant. Remaining costs will come from the Town’s savings, with $800,000 from public facilities reserve and $2.2 million from its recreation facilities reserve.

However, the final price is $1 million higher than what council was told in the fall.

Coun. Tanya Thorn said she was disappointed by the increase and voted against the plan.

“We approved a capital plan with $14 million back in the fall,” said Thorn. “From my perspective, I’m not really sure what that extra $1 million will be spent on or what its purpose is. That’s my concern.”

Okotoks community services director Susan Laurin said $14 million was originally earmarked for the project as a guideline in the capital project list, but the budget had not been officially approved.

“We had provided a placeholder total capital amount to the best of our ability based on 2012 numbers, without talking to anybody,” said Laurin. “When it went out to request for proposal, the amount for finalizing the project changed because, understandably, between 2012 to 2016 there were price changes in some items like materials and furnishings.”

Laurin said the best-evaluated proposal and design will be brought to council on June 27.

Councillors approved an initial budget of $2 million to fund the request for qualification (RFQ) and request for proposals (RFP) processes in the fall, she said, which covered expenses for a parking analysis study and an electric ice refinisher.

Laurin said the electric ice refinisher had to be included, because detailed designs changed significantly with the use of an electric machine instead of a natural gas machine.

“We needed to budget for that equipment because when you have a natural gas machine there are an entirely different set of requirements,” said Laurin. “It requires different ventilation because there are fumes, whereas with an electric machine there are no fumes to worry about.”

Plans will also be presented to community groups like Okotoks Minor Hockey and the Okotoks Skating Club.

“We want the design to go to key stakeholders for their feedback,” said Laurin. “We need to ensure the benches are the right size, the change rooms are suitable, to make sure the facility matches the stakeholders’ needs.”

She expects the permit process and finalization of the detailed design will take place over the summer so ground can be broken in the fall. The new facility should be ready to open Jan. 1, 2018, she said.

The Town hoped to complete construction in time to open for the 2017-2018 season, but adding a parking study extended the project timeline by five months.

Laurin said the construction process will still take 18 months.

“I don’t think we want to build it any faster than that,” she said. “One of the things we’re really proud of is we build quality buildings that last for 50 or 75 years.”

She said the Town is excited for the project and pleased to be fulfilling a request the ice-user community of Okotoks has been requesting for a number of years. Ice surfaces have been lacking in town, with some hockey teams doubling or tripling up for practices and some teams playing as far as Stavely, she said.

“I’m also really excited about including a leisure ice surface in the design,” said Laurin. “This offers, for all kids not in minor hockey or figure skating, and for adults, an opportunity to do one of Canada’s favourite pastimes – ice skating.”

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