Adam Johnson
Northern News Services
Friday, July 27, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - While plans for a new fieldhouse in Yellowknife appear to be on the backburner, one city councillor is trying to get things back on track.

During the Federation of Municipalities conference in Calgary, Coun. Bob Brooks went out of his way to ask developers and engineers a simple question: can a fieldhouse with two indoor soccer pitches and a running track be built in Yellowknife for less than $16 million?

"They felt that $16 million should be more than enough," he said.

Brooks added he contacted one B.C. developer who had great success with a recent fieldhouse project in "Lower B.C."

"The project included four pitches and a cafeteria/restaurant bar area," he said. "He did it for approximately $13 million."

While construction and labour markets in southern B.C. are drastically different than in the North, Brooks said he was still hopeful this information would be helpful.

"I gave this information to administration (because) I want them to follow up with these people and do a call for proposal."

Plans for the new sporting facility have been in the works for over three years, and were sent back to the drawing board in February to deal with ballooning costs.

"We kept getting estimates of $13, 14, 15 million," Brooks said, while final plans emerged at a whopping $26 million.

"That's more than the $16 million we had."

During a Monday council meeting, Brooks asked administration what they thought.

Public works director Greg Kehoe said administration hadn't had a chance to look at his ideas yet, and that they would e-mail a response later in the week.

Brooks' only response was an audible sigh.

"I have expressed a little bit of frustration," Brooks said.

"There was a lot of urgency to get this done for Arctic Winter Games," he said. "The need isn't diminished at all. There's still a huge waiting list for gym space."

In a previous interview, Mike Roesch of Facilities for Kids said his organization was still hopeful the fieldhouse would come to fruition.

"The cost has always been a major block from day one," he said. "This is kind of a wait-and-see."

He said his organization could contribute as much as $1 million to the project at the time.