The leaders of several local organizers who have put in proposals for use of Squamish's $750,000 Legacy Fund are anxiously waiting to see which proposal gets cuts next. Information presented at council's Feb. 8 Committee of the Whole meeting had one organization particularly concerned.
The Squamish Soccer Association (SSA) Legacy Funds proposal is for two artificial turf fields and a surfaced track. The group had estimated the cost would be approximately $2.9 million.
A proposal for a similar design, however, came in at $9 million.
The discrepancy caused concern among the legions of soccer, football and track fans who want to see SSA's proposal completed - using Legacy Funds or not.
"We spent a lot of time and energy working on this project and that information that the district received absolutely blew us out of the water," said SSA member Tanya Babuin
"We obviously don't want them to turf us out of the whole Legacy Funds decision because it's become a $10 million project."
When asked about the discrepancy after the meeting, Mayor Greg Gardner, speaking on behalf of council, appeared to be under the impression the scope of the proposals was the same.
"That [discrepancy] is one of the reasons council authorized this work - to have a more accurate estimate," he said.
It turns out there were more discrepancies scope-wise than council realized.
Although similar on the surface, there are some costly differences, according to synthetic turf design and maintenance expert Doug Wournell, who worked on both project appraisals.
"The main thing is when the city looks at something they look long term, whereas the soccer association is looking at improvements that can be made now," Wournell said.
"It is not a requirement that the entire facility be built at one time. As you know, the site functions now, and all that we would be adding in terms of activity would be a track-and-field facility."
He said the basic elements in the report cost more than the SSA quote because the scope expanded.
The track increased to two long/triple jump runways and the synthetic turf field was enlarged to handle Canadian football. The addition of a concrete walkway around the track, a completely new lighting system and several other additions contributed to the discrepancy.
With the SSA proposal, Wournell said "these expansions can still be achieved at a later date, should the need be shown, but having one long/triple jump runway and a field sized for soccer and local high school football [U.S. size] will still provide an very functional facility."
Wournell said the original SSA budget figure that was produced by Glen Seeton of TPC ($2,969,000 plus HST) would likely be close to what it would cost today for a running track and two synthetic turf fields.
He said he's confident that if the district moved quickly and asked for design-build proposals the project could be completed by the end of September.
"In fact, if Squamish issued a public tender for a design-build proposal before the end of March, the project could be completed by the end of September of this year for around that price, allowing six weeks for the tender and award, so construction would start in late May," Wournell said.
"If the project was to be designed first and then tendered independently to [general contractors], then the price would likely go up by 15 per cent and the timeline would extend into late October."
Babuin was relieved to have the discrepancies explained.
"We just really felt like we had egg in you face," she said. "There was a huge concern especially because I don't know if council understood why those projects were so different - the district one is almost a completely different project."
She doesn't expect this will guarantee SSA the Legacy Funds, but feels council should have accurate information.
"I know that all the projects are important to people in the community for one reason or another," Babuin said. "They're close to their hearts and they mean a lot."
