Redevelopment of Banff’s recreation grounds is predicted to be close to $1 million over budget by the end of the 10 years – but administration is taking steps to bring the project back within the original price tag.
A $975,614 long-term shortfall is primarily based on the fact adequate contingency funds were inadvertently forgotten in the initial budget; however, council has approved $50,000 for 2017 to advance the design of big-ticket projects to try to find savings.
“It’s showing $1 million over budget by the end of the 10 years, and that’s primarily because of contingency,” said Banff Town Manager Robert Earl.
“It’s our hope that through advancing the design on the major components we may be able to crystalize savings and, therefore, bring this project back within its original budget by the end of 10 years.”
The Banff recreation grounds redeveloped plan – a guiding document to help determine redevelopment at the site on the south side of the Bow River for the next five to 10 years – was adopted by council in 2015.
The plan calls for a permanent skateboard park, redevelopment ball diamonds, children’s adventure playground, skating rink, an amenities building with a potential concession stand and off-leash dog park, among many other projects.
The $1.1 million skate park has come in $100,000 over budget because a technical investigation revealed significant foundation work needs to be done. Council approved the additional capital dollars during budget deliberations to make up the shortfall.
But the good news is town administration was able to find $870,780 in savings in 2016 by examining some of the larger projects on the books, which led to a change in scope or elimination of certain elements.
The savings are due to lower than anticipated costs for ball diamond irrigation, and elimination of baseball diamond lighting and maintenance yard servicing. In addition, money for wildlife perimeter fencing is not needed.
Two options for fencing were outlined in the redevelopment plan. The first was to fence the entire perimeter of the rec grounds to avoid human-wildlife conflicts and lessen the maintenance required on the manicured grounds that are wildlife attractants, especially to elk.
A second recommendation was to build fences around some of the amenities, such as children’s playgrounds, for public safety reasons and to prevent elk getting entangled in swings, ropes and chains.
Parks Canada is not interested in perimeter fencing.
Parks officials say many wildlife species need to move freely to find habitat and to rear their young, noting Parks Canada supports fencing where it is needed to address a specific hazard that cannot be satisfactorily mitigated in any other way.
Christie Thomson, acting public relations and communications officer for Banff National Park, said there are some places where fencing will make practical sense, such as around tennis courts or the dog park; and other areas where design and landscaping can be used to mitigate the hazard.
She said the only proposal Parks has received from the Town of Banff so far is for the skate park.
“It has been designed so that there will be open sightlines for people and wildlife, and no areas where animals might become entrapped,” she said. “From our perspective, fencing of that specific area is not required.”
