CANMORE – The Canmore Rec Centre will see a new solar panel installation this year after council voted to approve several 2021 capital projects prior to the official budget process.
Administration was in front of elected officials at the January regular business meeting to ask for approval to move forward with six capital projects in 2021, including changes to plans to install solar panel systems on municipal buildings.
General manager of municipal infrastructure Whitney Smithers said while there has been a two-month delay on the budget process, a number of projects from the capital budget could be approved sooner to allow administration to begin.
"As you know, we are working with an atypical planning and budget cycle as a result of an atypical past year," Smithers said. "On the capital side, that results in a reduced window for project initiation and completion, and for securing the resources necessary for implementing and delivering projects."
In December, council approved an interim 2021 operational budget and postponed its typical annual budget deliberation process.
On Jan. 5, council voted unanimously to approve steep creek mitigation for Stoneworks Creek ($2.8 million); phase two of the south Bow River loop feeder main project ($3.3 million); a water main connection upgrade for Old Canmore Road ($500,000); enabling works to develop a new fire hall ($1.35 million); and a network upgrade ($200,000).
A new $365,000 project to install rooftop solar at the rec centre was approved; however, it meant council also voted to cancel projects to install solar panels on the Senior's Centre ($100,00), artsPlace ($135,000) and the Roundhouse ($135,000), which is home to the Canmore Community Daycare and Canmore Preschool.
Smithers said by cancelling the three smaller projects, and focusing on installing solar at the rec centre, there would be a greater environmental and economic gain for the municipality.
"We have come to the realization a solar project at the Canmore Rec Centre is more beneficial than the currently approved smaller projects," she said.
The rec centre has the highest rooftop potential compared to all other municipal buildings, Smithers added, because of its size, location and orientation.
Mayor John Borrowman said he still wants to have a conversation on the three cancelled projects, so they don't just disappear from the capital plan.
"I am not letting it go entirely," he said. "I likely want to have some further discussion leading up to budget approval and if there is any way we can keep moving forward."
The rec centre currently has a solar hot water heating system and manager of facilities Stephen Hanus said upgrades to the building completed last year make it possible to use the roof to support another installation that would offset the facility's electricity use.
"We were under the impression that to date, the Canmore Rec Centre did not have the structural capacity," Hanus said. "With the structural enhancements over the Alex Kaleta arena with the lifecycle project that just wrapped up, that basically provided the extra structural capacity we did not have before."
The project to assess the site for the new fire hall along Palliser Trail was also a new project for 2021.
"It readies the site for construction of the building itself," Smithers said. "And the second thing it does is enables us to identify unforeseen risks ahead of time and mitigate them prior to the fire hall's construction, so that the building itself can move ahead a little more smoothly."
Councillor Joanna McCallum said she appreciated that the new project would identify risks, while council works on finding the funding needed to design and build a new fire hall.
"These are all very complex projects to deliver and I think it is a great strategy on administration's part to focus directly on these particular projects and get approval for them early so they can hit the ground running on them," McCallum said.
