The City of Merritt has spent more than $1 million on its new multi-sport lacrosse box and concession building by racking up $300,000 and counting in cost overruns.
The original budget was $753,000 — increased by about $55,000 from the initial $698,000 the city borrowed from the municipal finance authority to fund the project.
Initially, the budget for the project was broken down as $512,000 for the contractor’s bid, $25,000 for LED lighting, $90,000 for utilities and landscaping and there was $126,000 left as a contingency.
That spare tire was blown out when numerous change orders resulted in the city spending about $100,000, but the project was still under budget at this point.
There was about $70,000 in cost overruns just to bring the concession building up to code.
The original building plans didn’t call for fire suppression equipment such as sprinklers and smoke detectors to be installed all over the building, but just the concession area.
After most of the building had been constructed, the city discovered that under its own bylaw, the entire building was required to be fully monitored and fire protected.
“It got overlooked. That was probably a human error,” City of Merritt leisure services manager Larry Plotnikoff said.
Major additions to the existing plumbing system, and utility installation were the result, a city report on cost over runs for this project stated.
“Our plans get approved through the city [building inspection department]. They were approved and then a mistake was made,” Plotnikoff said.
But a mistake in the geotechnical study of the construction site is what sent the project costs off the rails.
The pit test holes missed large amounts of silt and clay in the ground and once excavation began, these materials were found to be widespread.
“That resulted in having the geotechnical engineer ordering the removal of a significant amount of materials. In some places it had to go down to four to five feet deeper than originally planned,” Plotnikoff told council at its regular meeting Tuesday.
Extra costs for rebar and concrete for the foundation resulted as well as additional engineering costs, adding up to $240,000.
BC Hydro changing plans for power availability after engineers had already drawn up their own plans led to further engineering costs and alternative power sources being needed, which totalled $25,000 in additional charges the report stated.
Coun. Dave Baker said the city needs to look at this experience as a learning curve.
“It’s disturbing. I understand it had to be done, obviously once we started we had to keep going,” he said.
Coun. Linda Brown sympathized with the unforeseen costs associated with the geotechnical study, but noted the change orders and overlooking of the bylaw.
“I guess what I’m asking for is [that] any other future project to be looked at with a better focus and a better vision, and anticipating more of these issues ahead of time,” Brown said, noting she’s embarrassed of the cost overruns.
The final cost of the project is still unknown as landscaping charges have yet to come in, Plotnikoff told the Herald.
The kitchen of the concession buildings still needs appliances, which will be aided by a $40,000 provincial grant the city recently received from the province.
