The City of Castlegar and Regional District of Central Kootenay will spend about $285,000 in preparatory work before the question of an arena expansion reaches voters this fall.
This week city council approved $116,000 for its share of the latest costs. According to a memo to council, the breakdown is as follows:
• Honorarium funding
The project is proceeding in a two-stage procurement process, which invites qualified proponents to present proposals. Originally two proponents were each expected to be paid $50,000, but now RDCK staff are recommending three proponents.
“This approach improves procurement resilience, reduces the risk of receiving only one or no compliant proposals, and strengthens competitive tension and value-for-money evaluation,” the city staff report said.
The extra $50,000 honorarium would be co-funded by the City of Castlegar and electoral Area J if a third proponent submits a compliant proposal. The city’s share would be $36,750.
• Public engagement
The RDCK proposes to a “fulsome” public engagement program for the project at a cost of up to $45,000. This is expected to be funded by moving $12,000 from an existing advertising budget and $15,000 from a surplus in a general administration budget, plus another $18,000 to be shared by the city and Area J. The city is on the hook for $13,230.
• Geotechnical assessment
The staff report says a geotechnical assessment is required earlier than originally planned, because the proponents will need site-specific information to prepare accurate proposals. It’s estimated that will cost $90,000, to be split by the city and Area J. The city will have to pay $66,150.
The city’s contributions will come out of a reserve fund.
City manager Chris Barlow said if the referendum, now expected in late November, is successful, the costs could be recouped through long-term borrowing. Councillor Shirley Falstead called that the ideal outcome, but noted if the project doesn’t go ahead, the money is lost.
Barlow said that’s true, “but I think that is part of any project. You have to do some pre-planning and communication work as well as pre-site planning to be able to understand if you have a project even.”
Mayor Maria McFaddin added that the geotechnical assessment should be useful no matter what ends up happening with the land. Although the report may become outdated, it should at least provide some baseline data, she said.
The project calls for a second sheet of ice at the recreation complex to replace the one lost when the Pioneer Arena was demolished last year, as well as a walking track.
The RDCK board recently approved increasing the project budget by $2.5 million, to be paid for through taxes. Whoever is chosen to do design and build the facility is expected to be paid no more than $15 million.
