City of Powell River Council has approved a grant application of $3,666,618 for the Powell River Recreation Complex aquatic centre improvement project.
At the August 21 city council meeting, councillors considered a recommendation for the Strategic Priorities Fund grant application, that council is willing to provide overall grant management and support any cost overruns, and that the 2025 to 2029 financial plan be amended to recognize the grant funding, along with associated additional project costs, should the funding application be successful.
Project manager Josh Cronin said the recommendation from staff was that council approve the application of the project to allow the city to complete its full scope, as well as supporting the roof improvement project.
“This project is the result of several consultant reviews of the recreation complex, largely focusing on the roofing system of the aquatic centre, initially noting that the open-cell insulation is falling off the ceiling into the pool,” said Cronin. “That led us to look at many areas throughout the perimeter of the pool in particular, where we are seeing extensive corrosion, which is deteriorating the structural field to the point where it is a concern. The longer we wait to do this work, the worse it will become, and the more costly to complete.”
Cronin said the main components include replacing all the roofing materials, any deteriorating structural steel, all the exterior metal panelling and failed exhaust fans, and adding a vapour barrier. He said the original plan included seismic upgrades, but at today’s cost, the upgrade is estimated at more than $7 million, which is not feasible with this current project.
“This project was reviewed with a batch of eight projects that were considered for this grant, but after discussions, it was determined that the aquatic centre roof replacement satisfied the most of the screening criteria of all the projects on the list and gave us the greatest chance for success for this funding,” said Cronin. “If we do receive approval to proceed on this, next steps will be for city staff to draft the grant application to be submitted to the Strategic Priorities Fund for review. Based on an application submitted in 2022, it takes eight or nine months to hear back.”
Councillor Cindy Elliott said a report in the agenda talks about the end of life of a facility being somewhere around 50 years.
“We’re nearly there,” added Elliott. “This particular project would be a life-extending project for the building. Do you have an idea for us of how we can expect this project to translate into when our building would expire?”
Cronin said the roof would get upward of 10 years, potentially up to 15 or 20, depending on the degree of structural deterioration below.
“It’s difficult to give an exact figure because there are other factors involved here,” added Cronin.
Councillor Trina Isakson said a conversation that council will have to have is how much to invest in the current building, and at what point does council decide to invest in a new building.
“I’m wondering about the timeline of this and if we apply for the grant and are not successful, it would strike a hard conversation about the feasibility of our recreation complex,” said Isakson. “I also know that the building master plan is in this year’s financial plan. I’m wondering how this fits into the long-term thinking, and at what point would council have to initiate, to bring the hard conversation about how much longer to invest in the current building?”
Cronin said the unfortunate reality is that new construction is extremely expensive, especially for the type of facility such as the recreation complex.
“If we want to construct a new aquatic centre, we are talking about potentially a decade in the making and a number that I do not want to guess at,” said Cronin. “I can tell you that it would be much more than we are looking to spend on the pool roof today. My recommendation would be to keep the existing building operating as long as it can.”
According to a staff report, the estimated aquatic centre project cost is $10,121,650, with $3,666,618 from the Strategic Priorities Fund to be applied for; $3,278,315 from the Powell River Community Forest reserve fund; and $3,176,7717 from the Growing Communities reserve fund.
Council voted unanimously to apply for the grant application, that the city manage the grant program, and that the 2025 to 2029 financial plan be amended to support the grant application.
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