BANFF – The Town of Banff is planning to refine the costs and scope associated with a potential multi-million dollar renovation of the Fenlands recreation centre.
Currently, $538,000 is set aside in the budget for pre-design work in 2024 and just over $1 million for design in 2025. There is no money earmarked for construction, but council has directed administration to go after external funding opportunities.
Town of Banff officials say the renovations are in response to the community’s preferences for a fitness centre, climbing wall, flexible arts, culture, fitness and meeting spaces as well as an indoor turf in the non-ice season following a consultation process in 2021.
“As part of that 2021 public consultation process we had quite a bit of engagement, including over 600 responses to our survey,” said Amanda Arbuckle, the Town of Banff’s recreation services manager.
“We had a pretty good understanding from Banff residents with respect to how they would like some of those under-utilized spaces used in the future.”
When The Fenlands was built, certain rooms were constructed specifically for the Banff Hockey Academy, which paid the Town of Banff for private use of that space. However, the private hockey academy left in 2020 and that space became empty.
At present, the Fenlands recreation centre is home to two ice rinks, a curling rink, a small fitness room and rental facilities, and also hosts a variety of public drop-in sessions and community classes and programs. This summer, a seasonal indoor turf was installed at the Fenlands.
For the potential renovations, preliminary budget estimates prepared by construction cost consultants, Calgary-based Costplan Management Ltd. in November 2021, range from approximately $9.3 million on the low end to $12.2 million on the high end.
Arbuckle said cost estimates for the potential future renovations will be further defined in 2024 as administration consults with users, Town of Banff facility, engineering and planning managers, and industry experts such as architects to review the project goals.
“The next steps for us would be in 2023 we would look at further funding opportunities to support the project,” she said.
“It would also include more scoping of the project, so working with residents, different user groups, and other industry experts to further define as we get into pre-design. We will know more of what the community is looking to build at that time.”
Arbuckle said it is important to recognize that cost estimates and budgets are not the same, noting estimates are prepared by professionals and based on projects of similar scope and complexity and information available at that time such as material and labour costs.
“Typically, cost estimates only cover hard costs and have a limited life due to impacts like changing market conditions, environmental requirements, technologies, etc,” she said.
“Estimating the cost of a capital project is an iterative process where risks and uncertainties are reduced and hopefully, estimates become more reliable,” she added.
“This does not mean an increase in costs is expected, but rather the project scope and the contingency will be refined to align with council and the public’s expectations tied to the project goals and budget.”
The outstanding debt on the Fenlands from the previous large-scale renovation is $908,715, which will be paid off in 2031.
Coun. Hugh Pettigrew raised concern about costs, questioning whether the Town of Banff could go into partnership with other organizations or businesses to help fund the renovations and operations.
“I am looking for ways, if we looked at partnerships, where maybe a third party could design and operate some of these functions,” he said.
Administration indicated that 81 per cent of residents surveyed during the consultation process indicated the space vacated by the private hockey school should be used for community.
“The challenge you run into with a commercial entity running the space is that it’s very hard for them to achieve those reasons why people want it to be operated by a community group or municipality – and that is affordability, accessibility,” said Arbuckle.
Beyond that, Arbuckle said most municipalities that have businesses running a municipal recreation facility are left with a big bill for maintenance and capital infrastructure improvements at the end of the agreement.
“Overwhelmingly, the biggest challenges always experienced is that the private entity is looking at it as a business model wanting to make the most amount of money they can,” she said.
Administration confirmed the Town of Banff would work with engineers or architects with expertise in the field of sports and recreation in response to a query from Coun. Barb Pelham.
“If they don’t have specific sport experience, I am concerned sometimes that they design something that looks super funky but it may not actually function for that sport,” said Pelham.
“For some reason, the climbing wall really speaks out to me in that regard. I am glad you’re consulting with climbing groups and hoping that whatever designer we’re working with has sport knowledge.”
