by Niki Luymes
Edson Town Council received an update on the YCE multiplex Project during their meeting on April 8.
This update mainly concerned the construction. The project officially began on April 7. Doug Wagstaff, General Manager, Community & Protective Services, explained what parts have begun and how that will affect the current Rec Centre and the community going forward.
“It really has been an exciting milestone this week. We have, in all earnest, begun this week with construction,” said Wagstaff. “The things that were occurring up until this point are things, I would deem, ‘behind the curtain’ type activities. Clark Builders has been doing a lot of work on site, but not the kind of things that the public or ourselves would see. They have just been preparing for the next few months, to be able to hit the ground running, really hard.”
Phase 1, which began on April 7, consists of external building preparation. The entire south green space and parking lot will be stripped and prepared for construction. The construction zone will also include a section in the wooded area south east of the rec centre. All areas under construction will be surrounded by the required fencing. The time frame for this phase is set for April 7 to June 18, with some flexibility.
“A couple of local contractors are doing this work. It is Teck Logging that’s doing the tree removal, as well as Johnson and Herbert is doing the site stripping and pond excavation. The asphalt stripping and site preparation tender has closed, but that award has not been announced,” said Wagstaff.
“With the local contractors,” asked Councillor Krystal Cacka, “I’ve seen the communications department has been ‘plugging it’ out there. Have you been seeing an increased amount of local contractors participate or inquire as to how they can be part of the project?”
“We haven’t seen it ourselves, because that has been directed to Clark Builders. But Clark Builders, for a number of months now, has been sharing with the project ownership team that they are seeing a lot of interest locally,” said Wagstaff. He added that by local they are referring to regional businesses as well. However, lots of these businesses have been making bids and presenting interest in the project. “They, [Clark Builders] are very pleased with that, because not only does it keep some money here locally, it also helps reduce the cost overall because of mobilization, travel costs, and stuff like that can go down.”
The other aspect that has been worked on behind the scenes is that Clark Builders is working with town staff to prep a temporary use public entrance to the facility. That entrance will come through the pool area and will be necessary for phase 2, set to begin on June 18. “That was the goal from the beginning; to be able to limit the program impact by being able to operate the building, with the pool and the arenas, while we do construction at the same time. No doubt there is going to be some inconvenience and some disruption. The benefit to that is we still have the activities being able to be accessed by our community,” added Wagstaff.
Councillor Ed Moore asked, “What are the plans and procedures for the upcoming trade show (scheduled for April 25-26)? With how people get in and all that?”
Wagstaff explained that the current entrance will still be in use during that time. However, parking will be the biggest issue. “We are going to be doing some promotions, just letting people know in advance to plan differently. It is going to be a construction site and with that comes some changes in the next two and a half years. There is going to be some disruption in the area.”
Wagstaff added that with the limited onsite parking the Town encourages people to plan to park elsewhere and walk to the event.