The clock is still ticking towards a construction completion deadline for the downtown O'Siem Pavilion, but this week, council again delayed a decision on its location.
Time is critical because $375,000 of the $500,000 budgeted for the project is a stimulus plan Towns for Tomorrow grant (federal and provincial funding), which stipulates projects must be completed by March 31, 2011.
At the Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday (Sept. 21) District of Squamish planners Jim Charlebois and Chris Bishop asked council members to defer a decision on the O'Siem Pavilion's location until November so they can assess costs.
Potential additional costs include the relocation of the Sculpture Garden in Pavilion Park, removal of six to nine trees and infrastructure and servicing upgrades such as sewer lines, according to engineering manager Brian Barnett.
The estimated cost for removing the sculptures is between $13,000 and $20,300.
"The information could be ready to go and presented to council in November," said Charlebois.
"We realize that in working with a tight timeline it's not ideal to be delayed two months but the request for proposals will go ahead nonetheless and we are confident we can still have the pavilion constructed by the March 2011 deadline."
Coun. Paul Lalli asked whether there might be some way to ask for an extension and chief administrative officer Kevin Ramsay he was fairly certain the deadline was firm, but would check into it.
Acting Mayor Corinne Lonsdale and Coun. Doug Race said they were very concerned about the district only having four months to complete the pavilion.
"There's no question that it's tight," said Barnett, "but I think it's necessary and we do have a couple tricks up our sleeves to accelerate construction.
"We already have the engineering drawings on all the locations so we'll get to work on underground services."
Coun. Patricia Heintzman said she was worried staff might be losing sight of the main focus, which was the pavilion itself.
"I want to make sure we're focusing on the main point here - not so much on sewer lines but the actual pavilion," she said. "My suspicion is we should just go ahead with Option C [the north end of former Pavilion Park].
"That's where my mind is and there was general consensus for that option - but if not, this needs to come back to council as soon as possible."
Lonsdale echoed Heintzman's concerns.
"Do we even know what the pavilion will look like?" said Lonsdale. "Do we know?"
Barnett said despite a public consultation event in June 2009 where several ideas about design were discussed, there was no solid design plan in place.
"We know what events it will be used for, where the human traffic will need to go and those types of details," said Barnett.
Lonsdale was also concerned that despite staff's reassurance that construction was possible in the shorter time frame, weather might delay the project and "what would happen then?"
"Some years the snow begins in December and just keeps on piling up past March," she said.
Despite their concerns, council agreed unanimously to defer the location decision until staff could present cost assessments.
