Changes to either the timeframe or scale of the Hackett Park outdoor stage project are to come forward to Sechelt council at its July 21 meeting. The new amenity’s location near the intersection of Trail Avenue and Medusa Street has been closed to the public since project planning began in 2020. The district had estimated it would complete construction by the end of this year.
Construction of the new covered stage has not started, due to recent near tripling of lumber prices, according to a June 16 staff report. Cost increases for those products, brought on by market complications related to the COVID-19 pandemic, ballooned the estimated price tag to more than $327,500.
The project budget is $253,000, which includes a $185,524 grant from the Community, Culture and Recreation section of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, approved in 2020. The district committed its share of the projected costs, $67,500, during its 2019 budget process.
Some related work at the site has moved forward. Five amphitheatre-style seating banks have been created. These structures were built using soil excavated from the Trail Avenue upgrade project.
The soil excavated was stored in the park to allow it to be screened for archeological purposes. Sechelt put that material to good use, creating an amphitheatre with multiple seating banks. It has been stabilized along the natural slope of the land with concrete blocks. The seating area will be finished with grass surfacing shortly, said Jayme Anderson, parks manager.
In addition to the audience seating, new playground equipment, two picnic tables, a second mural for the park’s washroom building, a pair of park benches and two bear-proof garbage cans for Hackett Park are being paid for from the $300,000 Sechelt received from provincial Tourism Dependent Communities Fund. That money was distributed in early 2021 to help communities recover economically from the impacts of the pandemic.
During a presentation at the June 16 council meeting, arts, culture and communications coordinator Siobhan Smith asked council to consider allocating additional funds to move forward with the stage as soon as possible. She stated doing that would make the amenity available for gatherings and events in 2022.
At that meeting, council asked staff to meet with its contractor, West Coast Log Homes, to discuss possible changes to bring the project in closer to budget.
Coun. Alton Toth recommended retendering the job after lumber prices go down.
Coun. Matt McLean agreed. “Now is probably not the time to be building a big wood structure,” said McLean.
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