by Paul McMahon City of Powell River council’s process for the new public library project is in violation of the city’s official community plan (OCP) and standard management and engineering practices. The result is a complete lack of financial consideration and guidance for the project as a whole, plus a lack of financial analysis on site and design selection.
To put this into perspective, the current rough order of magnitude (ROM) cost is $8 to $10 million, for a move-in-ready building and a minimum of a $300,000 increase to the annual library operating budget.
Section 7.3.1 of the OCP states council supports securing an accessible, centrally located library of approximately 14,000 square feet and supports a new library but acknowledges financial limitations, thus will consider future options that are fiscally responsible.
The northwest corner of Marine Avenue and Abbotsford Street (the old arena site) has less than desirable accessibility. The library’s needs assessment states a new building should be 22,985 square feet and the request for proposals targets 18,000 to 20,000 square feet.
Council has ignored the recommendation made in the library site analysis report, prepared by senior staff and dated December 2, 2010, that explained and called for using the highest and best value procedure, which would normally be part of the site selection process. This report also contained a strong reference to the OCP policy and the need to refer to it and amend it if required.
My main criticism is the complete lack of fiscal consideration in the selection process. There has been no cost comparison between an award-winning design and a basic building design, such as the RCMP building, or a brown site cost, for example the former Brick location at Crossroads Village Shopping Centre.
There is a belief that a final design is needed in order to establish cost. I suggest that the first three letters in the planning engineers’ alphabet are ROM.
Ruth Baleiko of Miller Hull, the architectural firm currently under contract, told me the square foot estimate for a building only was $325, plus $125 to $175 per square foot for library functionality. These are American dollars, as Baleiko was not familiar with costs in Canada. Therefore, the ROM for an 18,000-square-foot building at the low end is $8.1 million and for a 20,000-square-foot building at the high end is $10 million.
City council should refer the highest and best value procedure for property usage and ROM estimates for the three options to the appropriate city departments. Staff should develop an estimate for the annual operating budget, keeping in mind that from the taxpayers’ perspective, the building overhead costs are additive, as the overhead currently assigned to the library will revert back to the city hall overhead.
Armed with the ROM estimates of building cost and annual operating expense budgets, council should determine if and how the city can afford such expenditures in the face of no known federal or provincial funding. Council needs to make the tough decision and cancel the non-essential, new library project.
Paul McMahon, a retiree and frequent library user, is concerned about the financial well-being of the community.
