Costly upgrades are needed at the Gibsons Aquatic Centre and Sunshine Coast Arena in Sechelt to keep both facilities serving Coast residents well into the future.
Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) directors received a facility audit report at a Jan. 6 committee meeting showing $438,500 is needed to fix deficiencies found at the two sites. The report was complied by FAME, a company hired to assess the current and future needs of the recreation centres.
The facility audit of the Sechelt arena and Gibsons pool looked at all functional components of the facilities including structural, envelope, interiors and services.
"The components were rated out of a possible 10 with 10 being the best," said manager of recreation services Bruce Bauman in the report. "Both facilities scored a range of five through eight in all components; however, some significant items within each facility were listed as critical. These will require attention in the near future to maintain operational capacity and will be presented during budget discussion in 2011."
According to the report, the largest portions of funds are needed for mechanical upgrades, new dasher boards for the ice rink and a new roof for the pool.
"Most elements are either in the final quarter of their life cycle or have reached the end of their life cycle," said Scott Cripps of FAME. "All the major structural components of the buildings are still at their mid-life cycle level, but some of the mechanical and electrical elements have reached either the last quarter or they have exceeded their life cycle. So we found the facilities to be structurally sound. We found them to be well maintained. There is an existing preventative maintenance system in place and so the facilities were in good operable condition. It's just a number of the elements within those facilities are approaching the end of their life cycle expectancy."
Cripps explained that all buildings have a certain life cycle, which is the estimated amount of time left that they can be used for the purposes they are designed for.
The roof at the Gibsons pool scored a two, which puts it on the critical condition list. The roof was found to have soft spots and large amounts of organic growth. FAME estimates it will cost $75,000 to fix the problem at the pool. The interior and exterior doors at the pool also need replacing, at a cost of about $11,000. The FAME report showed the mastic flooring is in rough shape, needing $60,000 to fix. The heat generating system was also shown to need $65,000 in upgrades. And in the area of fire protection, the pool scored a critical two, needing $58,000 to be spent to bring fire safety measures up to appropriate levels.
At the arena in Sechelt, the biggest expenditure needed is to replace the ice rink dasher boards at an expected cost of $140,000. It was found that the wood components of the boards are deteriorating, and the FAME report noted the steel posts will become dislodged with time.
The report also suggests an $8,500 expenditure for a new score clock that uses less energy. The arena scored low on floor finishes, with $25,000 needing to be spent to fix the rubber flooring on site. The FAME report also showed about $43,500 in door and window deficiencies at the arena.
In addition to the FAME audit, the SCRD had a Sechelt Aquatic Centre energy audit done that shows $675,000 could be spent at the facility to reduce carbon emissions and save energy. SCRD staff plan to apply for a grant from Towns for Tomorrow to possibly secure $400,000 for the proposed upgrade.
Both reports will now go forward to round one budget talks for more discussion and input.
