Days Inn demolition blows budget for Four Seasons Pool and old firehall tear downs

The old method of tracking budget overruns is still haunting the city as council on Monday approved spending another $4 million to demolish the old Firehall #1 and the Four Seasons Pool.

“A total of $6,452,485 was incurred for the acquisition of the Days Inn property and demolition to  facilitate construction of the new downtown pool ($4.5M for the purchase of the Days Inn; the remainder went towards the demolition of the Days Inn),” reads a report to council from Blake McIntosh, Director of Civic Operations  and Kris Dalio, Director of Finance. “In 2017, $7,000,000 was estimated for  this project and was to be funded by the Endowment Reserve. However, the scope of work was to include the demolition of the (Four Seasons Leisure Pool) as well. The remaining $547,515 of unspent funds is insufficient  to demo the (Four Seasons Leisure Pool). With a budget of $3,125,000, the required budget amendment to this project is  $2,577,485. A budget of $1,345,000 is also required for the Fire Hall No.1 demolition project.”

In 2019 the Days Inn was demolished to make way for the construction of the new downtown pool.  The city budgeted $1 million for the demolition, however ended up costing $1,924,943 as there were “significant findings of unforeseen  materials within the building and underground that required additional hazmat and concrete removal.“

Those costs included:

• Additional concrete material removal required substantially above quantities shown on
  drawings ($285,900);
  
• Gunite removal, a concrete grout with asbestos ($537,350.00). This removal required
  appropriate health and safety measures be put into place to alignment with regulatory
  requirements, also contributing to time delays;
• Additional vermiculite removal found sporadically throughout building ($172,330).

Council approved spending the extra money and Coun. Cori Ramsay noted the overages occurred before council changed its capital project management practices.

“These overages are hopefully some of the last of the old way of doing things and we are working so hard to get there,” Ramsay said.