By Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
After staff and engineering consultants conducted the first-ever formal condition assessment at the Pyramid Recreation Centre (PRC) last year, town staff now have a prioritized list of as much as $2.8 million in needed capital upgrades at the PRC over the next decade.
At the Feb. 25 St. Marys council meeting, councillors voted to have staff update the town’s existing 10-year capital plan and asset-management plan based on the findings from the PRC building-condition assessment undertaken by the town and Artas Engineering & Design Inc. At the Feb. 18 St. Marys strategic priorities committee meeting, Artas managing partner and director of project management Brent Powers took councillors through the recommendations from the condition assessment, which did not include the PRC aquatics centre as it is currently closed until May for an estimated $2 million in unforeseen renovations and repairs.
“I will say I think (the PRC) is in fair to good condition,” Powers said at the committee meeting. “I think a lot of the main items have been addressed, being mechanical, lighting, efficiency. You’ve done a good job up to this point to protect that asset and make sure it’s operating as intended. There’s a few items that I think should be addressed within 10 years.”
As part of the assessment, Artas engineers conducted a visual review of the building envelope including walls, roof systems, foundation, floors and steel structures, and a review of existing conditions related to the Ontario Building Code, fire code and Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) compliance. They also made recommendations to elevate existing conditions from previous building code and AODA compliance to current standards, and calculated the estimated lifecycle costs to complete all recommendations outlined in the report for asset-management-planning purposes.
Among the capital upgrades and replacements identified by the condition assessment, a number of major projects were identified as needing to be completed within the next five years. They include the replacement of the roof over the Friendship Centre, which is now 20 years old; the repaving of the PRC parking lot and assessment of underground infrastructure; the replacement of multiple rooftop exhaust fans that are now at the end of their lifespan; the replacement of rubber skater floors in the arena dressing rooms, the dressing-room entry corridors and ice rink access points; the replacement and rerouting of an asbestos-containing Transite stormwater pipe over the Rock Rink; and the replacement of numerous doors throughout the facility.
The majority of the assessment's shortcomings centered on AODA compliance, including the need for parking-lot signage, pedestrian-vehicular transitions, barrier-free restrooms, braille signage and accessible seating among other items. At the time of construction or various updates at the PRC, the shortcomings identified in this assessment were not part of any codes and regulations at that point in time.
While many of these issues do not require updating, staff and the consultants said they should be part of a forecast to modernize the facility in the future.
“I see there’s $600,000 (in capital upgrades) listed for 2025,” Coun. Marg Luna said at the Feb. 18 committee meeting. “We’ve already passed our budget; is any of this in the budget? How are we going to follow this plan?”
“In this case, a lot of the items you see in the plan in front of you for 2025 are not in the 2025 approved budget,” St. Marys director of corporate services André Morin said. “We do have several items (identified in the assessment) in our current 10-year capital plan. So, the next step is for myself to work with (recreation operations manager Doug LaPointe) and his team to take a look at the report in front of you today and create our 10-year plan and slice that (up and figure out) how that’s going to happen and what needs to happen in 2025. If there is anything that needs to happen in 2025, (we would) bring something back that would have to be approved (by council).”
Otherwise, Morin said staff would determine when each of the identified projects can happen over the next 10 years. Some projects, he explained, like the roughly $900,000 in roofing work needed at the PRC, are included in both the condition-assessment recommendations and the town’s current 10-year capital plan.
“The challenge is,” Morin continued, “what we’re seeing today is (that roofing work) is at the upfront – 2025-2028 – whereby in our plan, we had (that work) in 2030-2032. So, I think that’s going to be where the challenge is for us. It’s not going to be necessarily the total (cost) amounts. We’ve accounted for a lot of it. … The challenge is going to be from a timing perspective; what can we move forward, what can we move backwards, where’s the funding going to come from? I think that’s the next step.”
Once staff integrate the results of the building-condition assessment into the town’s 10-year capital plan, council will have the opportunity to review the new plan for the PRC as part of 2026 budget deliberations in the fall.
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