April 3, 2016
1694
A new Whitney Crawford Community Centre in Tiverton could cost more than $4-million.
During a presentation to Kincardine council in committee-of-the-whole March 16, Brad Miller of NA Engineering, Kincardine, said the size of the new structure should be 17,500 square feet to accommodate seating for 400-450 people, a kitchen, bar, entranceway, washrooms, storage, and the Tiverton Library.
When questioned later in the meeting, Miller said the price per square foot could run from a low-end of $170, to a high-end of $250, meaning the new building could cost anywhere from $2.975-million to $4.375-million.
In his report to council, Miller pointed to several reasons why locating the new community centre east of the current Tiverton Sports Centre is a better plan than putting it on the site of the current Tiverton Library.
The arena site is 18 acres in size with a parking lot, and is adjacent to the fairgrounds, baseball fields, and rugby and soccer pitches. The land is zoned Open Space which permits a community centre. The only drawback, is the need to reconstruct playing fields for either soccer or rugby.
Meanwhile, the library site is only 3.2 acres in size with a small parking lot, and is beside the Walk of Memories path, green space and playing fields. If chosen, the library would have to be demolished and even then, the site may be too small for optimal layout, especially for parking. Also, the land is zoned Institutional which does not permit a community centre so rezoning would be required.
Miller said that based on this information, a new community centre could be built on either site. However, the arena presents fewer challenges than the library site, making it the preferred option, he said.
The community centre committee asked council to allow NA Engineering to proceed to the next step which is to develop a preliminary design of the building and the site amenities, at a cost of $46,170 plus disbursements and HST; and that a cost consultant be retained to provide a budget cost estimate, at a cost of $3,000 plus HST.
As to the location of the community centre, councillor Randy Roppel said the committee did not want to infringe on the rugby field to the south of the arena, so had suggested locating the new building east of the arena, removing the soccer field there. He said there is another soccer field beside the library.
He recommended council proceed with the next step on this project, and include the services of a cost consultant.
The next step would include discussion of programming requirements, as well as conceptual floor plans, a preliminary site plan, Ontario Building Code review, presentation to committee and then incorporation of feedback in revised floor plans, development of a conceptual structural framing design, mechanical and electrical designs, preliminary building elevations, site plan and 3-D rendering view of the proposed building. This would all be presented by NA Engineering to the committee and then to council.
The project would then move on to tender documents.
Committee-of-the-whole agreed to have NA Engineering proceed with the preliminary design; and to retain a cost consultant for the new community centre.
That was later approved by council.
Written ByLiz Dadson is the founder and editor of the Kincardine Record and has been in the news business since 1986.
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