Costly repairs coming to hockey rink

The Town of High River is about to undertake a huge project at the Bob Snodgrass Rec-Plex.

A year after tackling the concrete slab in the curling rink, they're having to replace the slab in the large ice rink.

A consultant conducted a Facility Assessment of the recreation centre in 2016 and at that time, the condition of the large arena was classified as meeting only minimum requirements with significant deficiencies creating above-average operating and maintenance costs. 

The assessment noted cracks and elevation changes in the slab surface. 

In a report to council on Monday, Nov. 13, administration said staff do their best to address elevation discrepancies in the ice-making process, but the condition of the slab has deteriorated to a point where there is significant risk of failure. 

A contract has been awarded to Bry Sand Ice Arena for just under $1.1 million but councils approved a $2.1 million budget, which brought questions about such a huge contingency.

"We always question the size of the contingencies but these types of projects, until you start digging things up, you don't really know everything until you start digging it up, so we always put a good contingency in there and if there if it's needed and well, if it's not needed, it goes back," Mayor Craig Snodgrass says.

"Until the track hoe shows up it's a bit of guesswork and you can have all the geo stuff done that you want but until the hole starts to get dug and things get removed, you don't totally know what you've got in front of you until you're there."

Mayor Snodgrass says the work will get underway as soon as the local hockey season concludes in the spring and should be ready in time for the next hockey season in the Fall.

In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, HighRiverOnline and OkotoksOnline encourage you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the HighRiverOnline or OkotoksOnline app.