Barrhead area residents will have a lot more information about the aquatic centre thanks to an information session by town staff. On Tuesday, Aug.
Barrhead area residents will have a lot more information about the aquatic centre thanks to an information session by town staff.
On Tuesday, Aug. 11, during Barrhead town council's regular meeting, Martin Taylor, Chief Administrative Officer for Barrhead, presented a report to council on the aquatic centre project.
“There is a lot of misinformation floating and I thought it would be prudent with all the recent happenings to give council the most up to date information regarding the aquatic centre,” he said.
Since Taylor's last report, a number of community groups have been created who are both in favour and against the proposed pool facility in its current configuration.
“In terms of size, the building hasn't changed much since my last report, it is still 2,267 square metres and all the same components are there,” he said.
The facility will still include a six lane competition pool, a zero entry leisure pool and learning pool with a lazy river feature as well as a 40 person hot tub. Taylor then listed the costs for some of the major components of the facility.
It is estimated the concrete work for the facility will cost $1.456 million, the leisure component (learning pool, leisure pool and lazy river) $1.3 million and the hot tub is priced at $302,000.
“It must be remembered these are just estimates,” Taylor said. “These numbers can change at any time depending on factors such as the economy, but right now these are the best estimates our architect and our construction management company, Clark Builders, can come up with.”
Although the main features of the facility remain the same, over the last few months the technical committee (a group consisting of Taylor, town council representatives, and technical experts) have been tweaking the plans.
“Nothing is set in stone,” he said, adding that building an aquatic centre is unlike the majority of building projects the town has undertaken. “It is complex, it's not a warehouse or a strip mall, it's an aquatic centre and it is very technical in nature. As the building process gets further along we are constantly looking at pump locations, and the like.”
One of the examples of changes to the building the technical committee decided to make was the elimination of the diving board for the competition pool. Instead of a diving board there will be a swing rope, similar to the one in Whitecourt.
Coun. Ty Assaf asked if the elimination of the diving board would hinder the swim club's ability to host competitions.
Sue Keenan, Barrhead director of Parks and Recreation, said it wouldn't impact the club's abilities to host swim meets.
Coun. Roy Ulmer then asked if there was any cost savings by eliminating the diving board.
Keenan said she estimates a savings of between $300,000 and $350,000, adding the reason they will be able to see such a cost reduction is without the diving board the lane pool will not have to be as deep.
Taylor said it's important that the committee continue to look at ways to make the design of the building more efficient.
“As we all know, in a project as large as this one, there are always costs whenever there are delays,” he said, adding that it will be a challenge to keep them to a minimum and stay within the projects $13 million budget.
Barrhead Mayor Gerry St. Pierre said after looking at the breakdown of the construction costs of the facility, the components were a relatively minor expense.
“If you look at the $13 million budget, about $3 million is dedicated to the recreational features of the building, the rest is making the entire building work together as one facility,” he said.
Keenan said coming up with a projected operational budget for the aquatic centre proved to be a challenge for the recreation department.
“I must say putting together an operational budget is very difficult when you have a revolving program schedule. What we do in terms of programming is going to impact the cost of operating that facility,” she said, adding that 50 per cent of the operational budget is staffing.
Tentatively the aquatic centre will be open from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. from Monday to Saturday. On Sunday the pool would close at 5 p.m.
“Our goal is to maximize every square foot of that facility during the times it is open,” Keenan said.
However, she cautioned until the aquatic centre has been open a year it will be difficult to truly have concrete numbers.
“That being said, I believe we have put together a pretty tight, conservative operational budget,” Keenan said.
On the revenue side it's projected the centre will bring in an estimated $385,500. This number is up from the $153,000 the old aquatic centre brought in during its last full year of operation. The difference in the two numbers is attributed to an increase in both users and admission fees. For example, the old aquatic centre's daily adult swim rate was $5 and a yearly pass was $260. In the new aquatic centre those numbers are will be $7 and $400 respectively.
On the expenditure side the operational cost for the new aquatic centre is slated to be $844,900. In the old aquatic centre the total operational budget was $503,747.
“In this budget I have included a $50,000 annual capital reserve which will be critically important to the future of pool operations.”
The total operating expenditures estimate for the new aquatic centre is $894,900, leaving an operational deficit of $509,400.
The operational deficit could be less depending on Barrhead county's contribution to the operational budget.
“When I created the budget I didn't include any contributions the county may make so the operational numbers could change depending on how much the county decides to contribute,” Keenan said.
Taylor said it is important to remember that the budget presented is only a draft.
“It is only an estimate,” he said, adding that it couldn't be compared to other aquatic centres in the region. “You can't compare this pool to the one down the road or the one in the city. Every facility is different, the programming and levels of staffing are different. Each facility is very unique.”
