Quesnel, B.C. – This is not the time for knee jerk reactions.

That’s what Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson was told by the architect of Quesnel’s arena project (West Fraser Centre) after cost estimates came in higher ($22.4 million) than what were initially proposed ($17 million) in a referendum to residents earlier this year.

“We were cautioned not to act in a knee jerk way to the first estimate because it’s the roughest one. They don’t want to give a number less than what the project is going to be bid on. And because we don’t have details there’s a double contingency built into the price. So we need a real value.”

Simpson says a sub-committee of the North Cariboo Joint Committee estimates the price is “probably 15% over what the construction price would be” and says compounding that there appears to be a softening economy which may bring labour costs down even further into what he calls “the ball park range.”

For those reasons he says the committee decided to wait for the next cost estimates expected in February.

“At that point we will have to sit with the community and if we’re still well out of scope ($2 million to $3 million) we’ll have to engage the community in a dialogue as to what we do as a result.”

However he says a new arena will be built regardless.

“The replacement of the arena is not in question. We have $17.25 million secured to build the new arena. So the stage we’re in right now is just what does that arena look like and how quickly can we build it?”

For a closer look at recommendations the North Cariboo Joint Committee endorsed moving forward click here.