Councillor concerned costs could snowball on new arena
Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 23/01) - Unforseen costs could turn the new arena project into this council's Niven Lake, says a Yellowknife city councillor.
"Every council has a Niven Lake," said Coun. Robert Hawkins, "(the arena) could be ours."
Hawkins is worried uncertainties surrounding the depth of bedrock on the site beside Sir John Franklin high school could push costs to unforseen levels.
"My concern is are we building enough safety measures in terms of costs?" said Hawkins.
"It's a whole hunk of clay on the Sir John field," said Hawkins.
No geo-technical evaluations have been conducted on the proposed arena site.
City adminstration is using data based on 1999 piling results from renovations to the adjacent high school.
Based on these numbers bedrock depth ranges from three meters to 13 metres and costs for piles are estimated to be around $600,000.
"I can't say if he has a legitimate concern," said Grant White, director of community services for the city.
"We've had preliminary work done but we can't get anything more specific," he said.
Geo-technical evaluations on the site are scheduled to begin in April.
Ed Hoeve, the NWT's chief engineer with EBA Engineering Consultants said its premature to draw conclusions that the high school site is unsuitable.
"From the information I have now...there's nothing that would make (building) prohibitive from a cost point of view," he said adding there needs to be more investigation.
Councillor Dave Ramsey said council has 18,000 reasons why the arena won't be built at any cost.
"We're not going to let administration go on a free-for-all," said Ramsey.
"But politically we have to live with the decision," he said.
Tim Mercer, acting senior administrator for the city said adminstration refuses to answer any more questions concerning the proposed phased twin-pad arena. He's directing all future media inquiries to the mayor's office.
