Unforeseen complications at the site of the new ReidBuilt Centre for Community Leadership located in Boulevard park at the corner of Chestermere Blvd. and Rainbow Road have led to cost overruns on the project.
Council approved an increase in the project’s budget up to $160 000 at the Nov. 7 regular meeting of council.
The approval came after council questioned staff on how to prevent future projects from going over budget in the future.
“Staff have assured us that there will be more oversight in the future and more communication so this doesn’t happen again,” said Chestermere Mayor Patricia Matthews.
Some of the issues that have occurred included weather delays and additional preparation of the site due to weather.
Utilities and storm water management work have also been more complicated than was initially estimated.
Despite the increased costs involved in the project, Matthews believes the finished product will be worth it.
“This is one of the feature areas of Chestermere,” she said, “It is the first park that greets you as you come into the City from the West, travelling on Chestermere Boulevard so it has to be done right.”
Matthews said that Synergy put a lot of work into the design and construction of the building and that the city needs to ensure the park surrounding the building matches it.
“The park needs to complement it,” said Matthews.
In addition to the cost overruns, the project is behind schedule.
Synergy Executive Director Patty Sproule said that the delay hasn’t had too much of an effect on Synergy.
“It’s not had a huge effect on Synergy,” she said, “Although we’ve had to reschedule things that we had planned for that building.”
The bigger impact has been on the 1st Chestermere Scouts said Sproule.
“The…scouts will be sharing the building with us,” she said, “they’ve had to continue to make alternative arrangements for their meeting.”
Sproule said the scouts have been very understanding of the situation.
“It’s been great working with them,” she said.
Once the building site and utility hookups are complete, Synergy will be able to move ahead with building inspections and any repairs that may need to be done.
The modular building was brought in from Lethbridge but Sproule believes any repairs will be minor.
“Synergy will have responsibility for setting up the interior of the building,” she said.
Sproule hopes that they will be able to move into the building in December and open it for programming in January.
