By Spencer Sterritt

Concrete floors coming to Harewood lacrosse court for extra $162K

Feb 15, 2018 | 5:11 PM

NANAIMO — Lacrosse players will have their preferred flooring surface at the Harewood Centennial Park for their games and it will cost a significant amount of money to have it.

Originally designed to have an asphalt surface at the covered play space on Howard Ave., it will now be concrete similar to a skate park after lacrosse user groups asked for the change. Though improvements to the Centennial Park were in the planning stages for several years, a staff report showed the user groups asked for a concrete floor at the end of November 2017.

The move to a concrete surface instead of the cheaper and more common asphalt, to the cost of an extra $162,000, was made at Wednesday’s finance and audit committee. The committee is comprised entirely of Nanaimo City Council members and recommendations are almost always approved at the Council level.

At a previous committee meeting on Dec. 13, they’d approved a budget increase of up to $220,000 for the concrete flooring.

Since the new option won’t use the full amount of money allotted, a significant portion of committee discussion was about what to do with the remaining funds.

environmental impacts

Accidental pump activation causes minor oil slick in Nanaimo marina

1h ago

invasive species

Crews destroy invasive species from pristine island off Nanoose Bay

3h ago

whale rescue

Bigger boats, more nets, people arrive in Zeballos for new orca rescue attempt

6h ago

“If the $60,000 is already earmarked for this project, I’d like to see it remain somehow connected to this,” coun. Bill Yoachim said. “It’s a good chunk of change to work with.”

A staff report on the matter from the Dec. 13 meeting showed funding for the project expansions would come from reshaping or scrapping other projects.

This includes $100,000 originally intended to rehabilitate the Parkway Trail, $43,000 from a cancelled sign project in Beban Park and nearly $370,000 from the cancelled plan to redevelop Mariner Field.

However, parks and recreation manager Richard Harding told the committee the remaining $60,000 would return to reserves if it wasn’t spent this year.

Coun. Jerry Hong said even though they had $220,000 to work with, it didn’t make sense to use all of it.

“We’re already overbudget but I’d like to be underbudget. So if we have extra money, lets discuss that when it comes. If they find something in the future we need after the project is done…at least we have a little bit of money left over if we need it.”

The motion to proceed with the concrete flooring, which was the second cheapest option presented, passed unanimously.

Facilities planning and operations manager Art Groot told the committee the concrete surface won’t be slippery, which was a concern, since it will have a texture and grip similar to a skate park, even when it’s wet after a rain.

The $2.5 million dollar project was initially hoped to be completed by the end of Oct. 2017

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit