City to receive proposals for new rec complex in April

Three companies, Bird Construction, Quorex Construction Services Ltd., and Wright Construction Western Inc., are expected to make presentations to vie for the project.

“We had a meeting with the three proponents that are submitting an RFP [request for proposal] to see what they can provide with our budgeted money,” Seymour said. “The proponents have to come back and come up with a final plan… We will make our decision on [April] 13th as to who we are going to proceed with as the contractor.”

Also, as part of the process, a number of community engagement sessions are being held with user groups to get feedback on the project.

As well, the city said starting later this spring it will launch a new web portal for public engagement where people can access project information, ask questions, view project documents, and subscribe to receive project updates.

The rec facility, to be located beside where the old arena used to be, will feature a new arena with a full NHL-sized ice surface, a core area for administration space and City Hall activities, a field house, and an event centre. The project will start with the arena in the first phase.

“First and foremost is to get an arena back in the city of Meadow Lake,” Seymour said. “That’s a very important hub of the community.”

The city wants to move city hall business to the rec facility because its existing building, dating back to 1938, has some challenges.

“It is structurally sound, but there are a lot of issues safety-wise,” Seymour said. “So, that does have to be something we’re looking into.”

He added that the cost for the core meeting area/city hall area of the project will not be funded from any of the grant funds committed by the province and federal government.

To keep costs manageable for the project, the city decided to scrap a proposal to include a pleasure skating rink as part of the complex, as it could cost an extra $2 million to $3 million.

“With the cost of what the pleasure rink was going to be, fiscally we just couldn’t see adding it into there,” Seymour said.

The arena in the rec centre project will replace the Meadow Lake and District Arena which was destroyed in a fire in June of 2021.

Seymour said he appreciates Flying Dust First Nation for providing the PineRidge Ford Place rink to help youth in the ML area have a place to skate for the last year and a half, until the new ML arena is eventually built.

The total cost for the rec project is estimated at over $37 million, with the province and federal government providing about $27.3 million through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP).

As previously announced, the federal government has committed $14,932,023 and the province $12,442,108, while Meadow Lake will add the remaining $9,955,926.

Some insurance dollars for the loss of the original arena that burnt down will also be applied to the project.

Seymour said more work needs to be completed before the project can get started.

“There’s been a lot of work put into this by our administration, our recreation department, and our project managers. There is a whole bunch of work that has to be done behind the scenes before you will see dirt being turned,” he said.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @meadowlakenow

by Angela Brown

City to receive proposals for new rec complex in April

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