With the original mid-August to October opening date for the new Powell River Public Library now upon us, City of Powell River still has not issued a building permit for the project.
The nearly six-month construction job at Crossroads Village Shopping Centre, which was originally slated to begin in March, would not be completed until February 2017, even if a permit was issued today.
The city’s purchase of the building from locally based Futurevest Investment Corporation was made official in late January after the pending sale was announced in August 2015.
Futurevest, also the contractor for the library build as a condition of the sale, was ready to break ground in March to meet its initial deadline. The company applied for building permits in February, but the city has still not signed off on them.
According to mayor Dave Formosa, the long delay in issuing permits has mostly been due to issues around the building’s stability, fire protections and applying stringent building codes to a building that is close to 50 years old.
“I’m saddened it has taken so long to get the library project on the move, but we had a stop-and-start situation,” said Formosa. “There were issues between the city’s building department and the contractor, but after engaging and working with professional engineers and architects, to the best of my knowledge it has come to a resolve and we are ready to move forward.”
A successful referendum in November 2014 saw Powell River residents agreeing to borrow $3.5 million from the province to fund the new library. Futurevest then proposed plans to sell the Alberni Street portion of the Crossroads Village building to the city and design and build the new library with a locked-in price.
Formosa said the city received a deal at $4.9 million, when it would have cost upwards of $8 million to build a new library from scratch.
Futurevest is owned by Powell River residents Michele Sauve, Réal Sigouin and Kevin Sigouin, as well as two former residents, Francis Sauve and Fred Formosa, the mayor’s cousin.
Michele Sauve said the company was trying to provide the city with a practical and affordable solution in 2014 and it is frustrated with the delays. The price Futurevest quoted in 2014 has remained the same, she added.
“We were doing this as a favour to the city; we saw this as a good solution, and so did the people of the city, so that’s our frustration,” said Sauve. “We felt it was a way of giving back to the city that supports us.”
Sauve said most of the delays have been the result of city staff hiring consultants to review Futurevest’s plans. Sauve said the city has brought in second opinions on mechanical, electrical, structural and architectural, as well as requiring a building code review.
“We hired professionals to do their jobs and we felt they do their jobs well, and they would have to put their stamp on anything they did. You don’t usually double check on professionals like that,” said Sauve, adding that permit delays have stalled trades professionals and sub-contractors.
City director of planning services Thomas Knight said Futurevest’s original building plans were not approvable and more information was necessary. For example, an architect Futurevest hired to do the code review missed several key issues, according to Knight.
“When our building inspector reviewed that architect’s report, he found that it was wholly lacking in a number of areas,” said Knight. “There were some complete sections of the building code that their architect didn’t even comment on, so at that point we decided to ensure the safety of the building at the city’s cost, and we had our architect review their architect’s work. As a result, we found a number of other things to be amiss.”
While Futurevest was able to do approximately 80 per cent of required seismic upgrading under a preliminary city permit to work on the building’s foundation, it ceased activity at the site through most of the summer while waiting for further permits.
Knight said the city had no choice but to hire its own consultants to review the existing building plans.
“Would the city taxpayer want to ensure that they have a building that completely meets the geotechnical concerns and safety regulations of the building code,” said Knight, “or have a building that met the deadline and find out later that we have hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work to do in the future?”
Meanwhile, chief librarian Terry Noreault said he is beginning to receive furniture that was ordered for the new library’s original opening date and currently has no place to store it.
When seismic upgrades were deemed necessary in late June, Noreault announced that mid-November was the library’s new target opening date, now less than three months away.
“I’m very disappointed that in November we will be two years after the library referendum and we’re still struggling along,” said Noreault. “This is one of those areas that is really a city staff issue and not a council issue. Council has been very supportive and it’s just a question of Futurevest and city staff not agreeing on what is required for the building to meet code.”
Formosa said he has recently been assured by city director of infrastructure Tor Birtig that the project will be moving forward. Knight confirmed that if all issues are addressed, the building inspector should be able to sign off on permits by August 30.
According to Knight, both sides are sitting down this week to address remaining concerns, including life-safety issues of the north wall assembly, which separates the library from the rest of the mall, and the fire-resistant rating between the first and second floors.
“We won’t sign off on anything until the life-safety and coding issues are successfully addressed by Futurevest,” said Knight.
Formosa agreed that the issues should be resolved at this meeting and previous issues, such as seismic upgrading, have already been addressed.
“The city just wanted to make sure we had the very best and safest building we could, and with the new building codes we have those responsibilities,” said Formosa. “The two sides will be reviewing blueprints for the final time, just making sure that they have all of the changes in and things they want to tweak between the construction team, city team and library team.”
Formosa added the delay is a small price to pay for the value the city received on the purchase and build. He added the permit issue is something many city building departments are running into with contractors due to the constant change in building codes.
“The city saw things and it needed to put its oar in the water, and it did. The contractor saw things and said it disagreed, and it put its oar in the water. Professional engineers and architects came together and now everyone seems to be satisfied, and now we can move forward,” said Formosa. “We saved millions on the building, so there’s a little a bit of pain now for all of that gain.”
Adjacent and surrounding business owners, some of which are now tenants of the city, complained in mid-July about the disruptions their businesses have seen during construction. Further delays will only impact them more, according to Sauve, who manages the non-city-owned portion of the shopping centre at Crossroads Village.
“As the property manager at the mall, I’m sensing a lot of frustration with tenants as well, regarding the timelines,” said Sauve. “Everyone is supportive of the library and we’re excited to see this happen, but we’re all frustrated.”
Formosa said he understands building tenants are frustrated and hopes everyone will be patient while the city and Futurevest continue forward with the project.
“I apologize to our tenants who have had to endure this,” said Formosa. “As a retailer myself, I can only say sorry, sorry, sorry.”
As for a new target opening date, Noreault said library staff are not giving the public an updated timeline until the city and Futurevest agree on a schedule.
“In the past we’ve believed things were going along well and had set a date that seemed reasonable, but now we are three months out from the new target date and work hasn’t even started yet,” said Noreault. “Rather than set another date for the library to move, we are going to have to wait until the city and Futurevest agree on a schedule.”
