Council approves $112,500 to complete skatepark

By Rob Vogt
Claresholm town council has approved an out-of-budget expenditure of up to $112,500 to complete the skatepark located south of the town office, to be funded by Local Government Fiscal Framework capital grant funds.
The decision came at council’s May 13 meeting, after Chief Administrative Officer Abe Tinney updated them on the situation.
He explained site preparations have begun for skatepark construction. Once excavation started, it was obvious the condition of the site was worse than expected, and a second geotechnical evaluation was completed. It was recommended to excavate the entire project to a depth of 1.1 metres and construct a new base of pit run and geotextile cloth.
It was noted this work is outside the capabilities of the public works department and needs to be contracted out. A portion of the town’s contribution to the grant funding was in-kind work, so the town will no longer meet its donation amount without additional capital funding.
The original scope of the project had earthworks/base work at a quoted cost of $51,500 which the town was going to do internally, providing that in-kind, and saving that cash cost.
As a result of the condition of the base and the geotechnical evaluation, not only is the town not able to do this work themselves, but the earthworks/base work cost is significantly higher, estimated at $112,500.
So, though this is only a $61,000 increase from the original estimate, as the town is unable to do any of the work, it is a $112,500 cash cost increase.
New Line Skateparks has a tight schedule, with projects lined up all summer. A delay with this project will either delay all projects for the year or will cause New Line to cancel the project entirely for this year.
Tinney said there are three options.
1) Moving forward, approving additional project funding from Local Government Fiscal Framework capital funds and/or reserves along with potentially some additional fundraising from the skatepark association.
2) Putting the project on hold and looking at either a re-design to reduce the size/cost or look at an alternate location.
3) Cancelling the project.
The recommendation was that the Claresholm Skatepark Association has been working hard at fund raising and applying for grants for a number of years. They have been successful in receiving a Community Facility Enhancement Program large stream grant of $255,116, as well as $30,000 in Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta grants, along with an estimated $40,000 in other fundraising.
The town’s current skatepark has outlived its useful life and, though still functional, is not ideal. With the Claresholm Skatepark Association’s work, the town will be able to significantly enhance it’s skatepark in a new open location with a value of approximately $475,000, with a cost to the town of only $167,500 due to the grants and fundraising achieved by the Claresholm Skatepark Association. This is well below previous discussions around recreation infrastructure on average having a $0.50 on the $1 cost to the town.
Based on this, it was noted cancelling the project and losing those grants isn’t advisable. Throwing out the work and investment already done on current design, geotechnical, legal, and so on on to develop a new, smaller design or new location also doesn’t make a lot of sense. Incurring such costs again may cost as much or more as the additional costs for the existing design and location with less to show for it.
Therefore, administration recommended council approve the additional funding of $112,500 to continue forward with the project as is, with the additional required earthworks, and funding it from Local Government Fiscal Framework Capital funds.
Coun. Craig Zimmer asked why town staff can’t do this work.
Tinney responded the town does not have the materials and the operations department said the work is out of their scope.
Coun. Rod Kettles noted a geotechnical study was done and now a second one has been done. He noted everyone has seen the water pooling in that corner of the field. He asked how confident will the town be with this work?
Tinney said the operations department feels confident.
Mayor Brad Schlossberger added New Line Skateparks has seen worse.
Coun. Mike Cutler asked why this was not seen in the first geotechnical study, adding $112,500 is a lot of funding to take from roads and infrastructure.
Zimmer asked what part of the job can’t the town crew do, adding the town has qualified staff to dig sewer and water services.
Schlossberger said the town’s equipment is not big enough, while Cutler said they have to rely on the recommendations of their staff.
Kettles added that is why the town has reserves too.
Council then approved the out-of-budget expenditure of up to $112,500 for the completion of the skatepark, to be paid out of the Local Government Fiscal Framework capital grant funds, with everyone voting in favour except Zimmer who was opposed.