Westlock County’s new ski chalet is behind schedule, failing to meet the once-proposed opening date of June 2014, but is still expected to be operational for the coming ski season.
The trouble on the site right now has to do with the water level, according to interim county CAO Rick McDonald.
“There are some change orders as a result of changes in direction as you build things,” he said. “We’re trying to run with them and we think we have them under control.”
Nonetheless, the project is projected to go over its $1.82 million budget — in 2014 council committed an additional $40,000 to the project.
“As far as the cost overruns, the issue that’s happening right now is the area has quite a high water table, so we’re looking at how we can ensure the water table stays at a manageable level,” McDonald said.
He added while the project has been delayed, he’s nonetheless confident the 150-capacity chalet will be operational for the 2014/2015 ski season, replacing the aging facility that has served the Tawatinaw Valley Ski Hill for decades.
Issues with water at the site were apparent last Friday morning following a heavy rainfall, with muddy and marshy ground with pools of standing water collecting around the new chalet.
Reeve Bud Massey said he’s concerned about the cost overruns that may be associated with the water issue problem, and he suggested it cost more than the $40,000 council has budgeted.
“We don’t have a specific figure,” he said. “It appears there could be in excess of $100,000 and we’re not sure how much in excess of $100,000 of cost overruns.”
He said the water level on the site is the main problem for the new chalet at this point.
“We’re having issues with water; we’re having issues with water in the crawlspace, we’re having issues with having to dewater the site, and we’re having issues with how we can do the parking lot,” he said.
“We don’t have a handle (on the cost) today, and that’s one of our concerns.”
Massey said one of the concerns council has is that the engineers and architects who were hired to design the project could have foreseen some of the issues with water on the site.
“A lot of the issues that are being raised, we would have thought would have been handled by the professionals,” he said.
The project is being overseen by BRZ Architecture, with Binder Construction in charge of the one-the-ground work.
Jeff Ropchan, a representative with BRZ Architecture, said he could not comment on any issues on the site, including cost overruns or potential delays.
