The budget for the upgrade of the Agriplex outdoor arena grew by 50 per cent on Monday night.
City council approved increasing the budget for the project from $200,000 to $300,000 to allow for the addition of a drainage system. During 2021 budget deliberations, council had approved a $200,000 budget to expand and improve the riding surface in the arena to meet provincial standards ahead of the 2022 BC Summer Games.
“The City obtained qualified consulting services to develop engineered designs for project construction. The design exercise has identified the need for a drainage system and specified dirt surfacing materials that were not originally anticipated in the Agriplex Update project,” a report by city acting director of civic operations Blake McIntosh said. “These requirements will ensure safe conditions for both horses and their rider by eliminating the pooling of water, providing adequate footing, and increasing the longevity of the riding surface.”
The upgrade needs to be completed this year, to allow time for the riding surface to settle before the competition in 2022, his report added.
“We’re seeing this upgrade causes by the 2022 Summer Games, but this will benefit the community as well,” Coun. Kyle Sampson said.
Several members of city council said that although they didn’t like seeing the cost of a project go up, the fact the change came back to city council for public scrutiny was a step forward following the series of major cost overruns the city saw on projects including the downtown parkade and new firehall.
“This is the new bylaw we have in place at work,” Coun. Cori Ramsay said.
