The MD of Bighorn has agreed to partner with the Exshaw Community Association and co-sign an application to allow ECA to apply for a $100,000 grant to renovate the community hall.
The basement of the two-storey hall and the gym equipment were damaged during the June flood, but not by overland flooding. Instead, the basement flooded when the electricity went down and two sump pumps stopped working, damaging gym equipment.
As a result, ECA wants to redesign the hall by moving the gym to the main floor, adding bathrooms and possibly an extension and windows, according to Anna Randell, ECA vice-president.
The basement would be refinished, but only so it could be used as a meeting space or yoga room, so that future flooding would cause little overall damage.
“We’ve got our worth out of it, but we need to move into a better design for that building for the future,” Randell said Tuesday (Feb. 11) during a presentation to council. “We all realize putting the gym back into the basement is only asking for this to happen again. We don’t want to repeat past mistakes.”
ECA is not eligible to apply for a New Initiatives Program grant administered by The Calgary Foundation as part of its flood-rebuilding program as it does not have charitable status.
The MD, as a municipality, does.
“Without some assistance we can’t go anywhere. We’re fairly restricted in some ways,” Randell said.
Randell told councillors the association has added an auxiliary role to the board to handle administration of the project.
She said the MD would only be asked to sign the grant application and not be involved with managing the project or the grant.
Councillor Paul Ryan, who is also an ECA volunteer, said there’s roughly a $500,000 loss to the building.
“We don’t realistically expect to get half of that back; it will be a significant loss to the association and the community, this is about moving forward,” Ryan said, adding he played no role in writing the grant application.
The basement has flooded in the past when only one sump pump was available to pump out water. The ECA installed two larger pumps in 2005.
Ryan said the MD would not be on the hook financially for any part of the rebuilding project as, along with the $100,000 grant, the ECA has $83,000 in savings to contribute to the project.
