By John Francis, Bruce Peninsula Press
The renovation project at the Lion’s Head Arena/Community Centre has hit a major roadblock — there are drainage problems which would add considerably to the cost (and complication) of adding extra facilities at that location.
Addressing the drainage issues would add at least $1.5 million to an already bloated construction budget — Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula (MNBP) had allotted $10 million for the project, but the most recent projection puts the required budget at $17 million.
MNBP Council heard about this in a CAO Report presented at the January 29 Special Council Meeting to address the municipality’s 2024 Budget. Faced with cost overruns, Council elected to put the project on hold and consider their options at a Closed Session at the February 5 Special Council Meeting.
This was not the first time Council heard about drainage challenges at the arena site. At the November 14, 2023 council meeting, Wes Rydall appeared as a delegation to speak about the arena site.
After half a century working in the excavation and haulage industry, Wes Rydall has developed sharp insights into drainage and property development. (He has also spent a lot of his life at hockey rinks and knows a thing or two about them as well…)
Rydall told Council that he “had no concerns when they were just talking about adding a few dressing rooms, but it’s sort of snowballing…” If a more ambitious development is planned, he had concerns about the property itself. There is no drainage at the arena property, he explained. Not only that but the building is 40 years old. He was concerned about the roof and predicted that there will be other work that will need to be done over the next ten years.
He suggested that the municipality would be better off to use the current building as long as necessary but think in terms of building a new facility for the long term. The current site is just under 5 acres; Rydall said that for about a million dollars, the municipality could get ten acres of land nearby — “good, high ground where you don’t have to worry about drainage”. With a ten-acre site, there would be lots of room for parking and expansion. He suggested that in selecting a site, the municipality should look on the south side of town, where there is 30 or 40 feet of soil above the bedrock.
He predicted that if MNBP had to solve the drainage problems at the existing site, a million dollars wouldn’t go very far.
Fast forward to January 29.
A few excerpts from the CAO’s Report to Council:
“The current Community Centre and Arena site is at a lower elevation than the Tackabury Street and Hayes Drive and gradually drains westward, presenting the following Site Servicing challenges: …
“With an expanded facility footprint and hard surfacing the increased runoff and drainage must be addressed on-site and offsite of the property as to not impact abutting landowners. GM Blue Plan Engineering were engaged by the Municipality to investigate and design an outlet and storm drain solution.”
As to the septic system: based on the Engineer’s conversation with the Ministry, “…obtaining an ECA (Environmental Compliance Approval) for the “full” proposed design will be challenging, and potentially not possible.”
GM Blue Plan offered four drainage plan alternatives, all of them flawed in various ways. Not one of them could be implemented for a million dollars. All four also require a million-dollar holding tank be incorporated as part of the building design.
If a well-drained alternative site could be found, it appears that the construction and drainage costs would come down by well over $2 million. There would also be a dramatic reduction in the number of approvals and negotiations required.
But $3.5 million in federal and provincial grants hang in the balance, potentially lost if the project is abandoned.
That was a lot for Council to digest. Presented with a recommendation that they authorize $17 million to proceed with the project, they balked.
Mayor Milt McIver kicked off the discussion: “It appears that this project on this site really appears to be quite challenging, from a stormwater perspective and a septic perspective… in fact it’s to the point that I’m really not in favour of going any further at that site… I would like to take a look at a different site.” He suggested that Council go in camera at the February 5 Special Meeting to consider their options. “Even engineers are having a hard time coming up with a solution for this thing… and it’s the cost uncertainty as well, to try to do something on that site…” He also suggested that Council “…direct staff to contact the ministries to see if there is any possibility of maintaining our funding if we move to a different site… I think we have a good rationale for why we are [moving]…”
Councillor Smokey Golden stated that she, too was unwilling to commit to spending $17 million on a single facility.
Deputy Mayor Rod Anderson was also uncomfortable with committing this much money to adding on to a 50 year old building.
Councillor Todd Dowd agreed. “Right now there’s too many unknowns,” he said. He doubted that $17 million would be the final budget; there were too many loose ends. “But we still have to do something,” he pointed out.
“What do we think of the arena as it stands now?” wondered Deputy Mayor Anderson. “What is its useful life? Can we get another five years out of it with nothing but maintenance?”
Facilities Manager Mark Coleman stated that from a technical perspective, the facility is in good shape. Barring the unforeseen, it should present no problems for at least five years and probably somewhat longer.
Deputy Mayor Anderson suggested using that five-year horizon to plan an alternative. “$17 million would be far better spent on something new.” He advocated trying to think of this with a 50-year perspective.
Facilities Manager Coleman offered some background information: the rink and ice plant were built in 1984, he explained, but the community hall and dressing room portion is 1976.
Councillor Golden suggested MNBP consider reverting to the original plan — new, accessible dressing rooms and washrooms.
Councillor Dowd asked if the municipality would need to deal with stormwater and drainage if the arena is maintained at status quo. CAO Peggy Van Mierlo-West stated that no changes would be needed; in fact, she thought that dressing rooms could probably be added without requiring a new stormwater and drainage plan however this would be passed by the engineer.
The issue was deferred to a Closed Session (to discuss property acquisition) at the February 5 Special Meeting.
The full CAO Report on the arena/community centre project is included in the Agenda for the January 29 Special Meeting (click on “Agenda Package” to see the full report).
To hear Wes Rydall’s delegation to Council, go to the Municipality’s YouTube channel and select the November 14, 2023 Meeting. Rydall’s presentation begins at minute 31.
