ATHABASCA – The Town of Athabasca will move forward asbestos remediation at the Old Brick School — the first step towards the future revitalization of the building.
At Athabasca town council’s April 5 meeting, several aspects regarding the future of the historic Athabasca Public School were discussed, including remediation and revitalization, as well as the building’s historical status.
The request for decision from Coun. Ida Edwards noted the 2019 Manasc Isaac Architects Ltd. report which listed the abatement of hazardous material as a must-do in order to meet health and safety standards. She also reported the Brick School subcommittee has applied for an up-to-$100,000 matching grant from the Ministry of Culture’s Heritage Preservation Partnership.
“As noted, the hazardous materials abatement is required in order to proceed with any other aspects of the project, this is regardless of grant approval for the work,” stated Edwards’ RFD. “The grant allows work started within one year prior to grant approval to be retroactively covered by the grant. Therefore, there is no need to wait for grant approval on this decision.”
Council approved the motion to direct administration to create a proposal and advertise for hazardous material abatement at the Historic Athabasca Public School with funds to come from Brick School reserves, but not before some discussion.
Coun. Dave Pacholok and Coun. Edie Yuill requested clarification on the scope and cost of the work to be completed, and whether the work would go forward regardless of the success of the grant application.
“So, we want to go forward before we know?” queried Yuill.
Mayor Rob Balay clarified: “I think the hope is that by the time that we get someone selected at a price that we like, we’ll have word back on the grant, but that being said, this is something that has to be done regardless, for any work or future events to happen,” he said. “So, in all likelihood we would have to take the money out of the Brick School reserve to pay for this so that we can even carry on with future projects and accept future grants.”
Council found themselves in a similar situation with another request for decision to approve a geotechnical survey of the site as per the recommendations in the Manasc Isaac report. Again, Edwards said the Brick School subcommittee has applied for $25,000 through the Ministry of Culture grant stream, but the work will have to be completed whether that application is successful or not.
CAO Rachel Ramey noted geotechnical studies are usually conducted when there is new construction planned, whereas a structural study would determine the state of the building and she required some clarification.
Balay went on to add there was some discussion of adding an outdoor patio, but that was still tentative, so joined Ramey in asking for specifics on exactly what kind of study would be conducted and for what purpose. Edwards said she would seek that clarity and bring the RFD back to a future meeting.
Ramey reported back to council April 19.
She read directly from the 2019 Manasc Isaac Architects report that provided a future pathway for development of the historical site.
“The geotechnical investigation is not within the budget of these design services and should be provided previous or in conjunction with the next phase of design to provide the design parameters for new foundation elements and the necessary information for you to verify existing foundation capacities,” it read.
“So, if we are only looking at proceeding with the work to be done to bring the school up to standards now, we don't need to have the geotechnical investigation,” said Ramey.
Council decided to defer a decision on a geotechnical study until after representatives from Manasc Isaac can meet with the committee to further clarify.
