Plaza Reno Price Tag Not Known
Wednesday, August 21, 2013 @ 4:19 AM
Prince George, B.C.- While the public open house on the Civic Plaza enhancement design “the River” has generated many positive comments, no one can say exactly how much the depicted design will cost. It is a case of what you see, may not be what you get.
The City has set aside $500 thousand dollars, of which $50 thousand has already been used for the design. That leaves $450 thousand to actually make the approved design a reality.
“Clearly what we have here will cost more than $500 thousand dollars” says Mark van der Zalm whose company developed the concept. While the next phase of this project will be to “cost it out”, all of the elements depicted may not actually be developed.
According to van der Zalm, the final project will all depend on how much money the City is able to secure through grants from senior levels of government, or donations from corporate sponsors. He says it is possible some of the elements depicted, may not come to fruition because of the cost considerations.
Keep in mind, the City is committed to re-developing the newly named Canada Games Plaza because it was a promise made in the initial bid for the 2015 Games.
The City is applying for a grant from Heritage Canada, that grant could be as much as $500 thousand. Then there is the possibility of corporate sponsors stepping forward. Canfor is already one of the major sponsors of the Canada Games, would Canfor ( or another wood products company) be willing to supply the wood for the wood elements of this renovation project?
The good news on cost savings is that there are elements that will be staying. The interlocking brick, the skating rink, the fountain, the clock tower, the infrastructure that supports the water feature and the electrical system. That infrastructure means the final cost will be less than what it might have been had the plaza been developed from scratch. “It is an enhancement that will overlay the existing plaza and give it a new contemporary look” says van der Zalm.
But the final look of the enhancement will all depend on the actual price tag that comes out of the “costing” exercise, and the City’s ability to raise dollars or materials above and beyond the $450 thousand left in the project’s piggy bank.
As for public reaction to the design? Those we spoke with expressed some concern over the low level lighting plan, but several praised the project for the addition of a green space and natural elements that would be more inviting than the current open flat space in front of the Civic Centre.
Comments
50 grand spent on design?
What did they do, build actual full size model of it in someones back yard?
If I were to build a $500,000 home and spent $50,000 of that on blueprints, my wife would shoot me.
I know, we should have been able to pick up blueprints from Jenish Homes and Backyard Landscaping for $500 a set … 3 for the City, 1 for the wife, 6 for the contractors ……. total of $5,000.
In this case, whenever someone from the City picked up the phone, it was $250 for the first hour or part thereof. Put travel in to PG, $1,200 day rates, and a few more hours here and there to sit back, pen in hand and mouth, and going hmmmmmmm … river …… what comes to my mind when I think river …….. river rock? ….. yeah, let’s try that …….
The tally at the end will come to $50,000 before you can say “Mark is your uncle”…. ;-)
âClearly what we have here will cost more than $500 thousand dollarsâ
The council voted in favour of a project the final cost of which is open ended!
West Austin Road from South Kelly Road to the highway intersection is a minefield of potholes and patches over patches!
Get it fixed!
Not to forget Croft Road! Fix it or lease it to Chrysler Canada as a torture test track!
Once again we get caught up the spending of money on projects for no other reason than some simpleton at the Canada Games, put it in a contract.
The Civic Centre Plaza as it now stands is ok. There is no need for spending all this money. Furthermore all the hype around these games is pure BS. Its not like its the Olympics, which of course is also over done.
No one remembers previous Winter Games, or Summer Games for that matter. Once you get these people spending tax dollars there seems to be no end to what they will do.
The Winter Games are fine for those that want them, and I support the decision to have them here to some degree, however I do not support the wasting of tax dollars, for FLUFF.
At the end of the day we will have spent over a million dollars for absolutely no reason.
Have a nice day.
This makes absolutely no sense to me. They knew what the budget was, why not develop the plan to the budget? When I planned my kitchen reno I didn’t include granite counters and marble floors because I knew I couldn’t afford it. These people frustrate me argghh
“Build it and they will come..”
“Oh crap! Hurry up and build it – they are coming!”
Why didn’t they have public consultations last year? This could have been out for tender in April 2013 and construction could have been underway.
I see it this way.
1.City Hall believes that they need to “green” the civic plaza and have felt that way for some time before the Winter Games. They feel that people will use the plaza more frequently if that is done.
2.City Hall also looks for handouts for projects from senior levels of governments. They keep their grants book front on centre on their desks. The had an opportunity to use a provincial fund recently but chose to put it towards the City Hall landscaped area to get rid of some âproblemsâ they had with the space that had developed over the year.
3.Along come the Winter Games and they see the next opportunity. Instead of developing a new low key green space in the heart of the CBD where the bulk of the people work using some of the land they have from razed buildings or parking lots, they put it towards the project that was on the books for some time. And let us not forget the smart growth on the ground plan with the green spaces it had designated.
4.So, how does one design a space that has more fixed features while keeping a large enough space for public use such as start of Terry Fox runs, formation of parades, New Years celebrations, seeing Prince George and parents coming to Prince George, etc. One does not. The hand towel skating rink that feels crowded when 5 people use it is totally dysfunctional.
As I have said for a long time, we are missing a quality planning department and it is continuing to have an impact on these types of projects.
We have no professionals on staff at City Hall who have the senior level experience from a variety of previous positions in other communities which have had successful projects over the years.
The money being spent on communications needs to be spent on someone who can head up that department and bring this City back to some functionality and joy.
With the right person, future generations will remember such a person and appreciate what they have done for the city. The will not remember the talking head who is guaranteed not to leave any legacy developments.
This is a case where ideology trumps everything: common sense, long term community views and desires, practicality, fairness, economics…and to add insult to this there was and is no community consultation….. Showcasing 50K worth of drawings on what the CWG plazas could potentially look like does not qualify as public consultation regarding this project…..and we know the City is contractually obligated to follow through with this….. Lets hope the City is able to secure grants from senior gov’ts and get enough sponsorships from corporations to cover the cost of this….. it’s a shame Van der Zalm is unable to include cost projections and give us at least three breakdowns of what 200K, 500K and/or 1 mil would give us….if the city is unable to get outside money for this project the taxpayers could be left footing the bill…. and this would be in addition to the CWG special tax levy we already pay.
except for the fact that senior levels of government are still using “our” tax money
STOP SPENDING “OUR” MONEY FRIVOLOUSLY.
So the project is called “The River” and it’s suppose to be a show case during the “Canada Winter Games” – we should all know what happens to rivers in Prince George during the winter…..Ice jam…maybe this project should have been called “The Ice Jam” – pretty cool name. ;)
There is a nice little park at the corner of 1st Ave and George St. It is a green space with a river theme at the back of it and a monument. It is commonly referred to as “needle park”. The inhabitants of this park have destroyed the monument and are currently ripping up the irrigation pipes for whatever reason. (big crack pipes ?) You cannot have anything nice in Prince George. So hey, lets spend a half million bucks on the civic centre plaza so the main occupant of the plaza, Ms. Meth Face, has a nice place to hang out.
Sorry for being so blunt, just PG reality.
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