High River Town Council defeated a $400,000 budget increase for the Outdoor Skating Rink Renovation Project at the July 14 regular meeting.
The project at 820 Highwood Trail SW was previously awarded to Bry Sand Ice Arena Ltd for $750,000 to build the outdoor skating rink.
Following a preliminary geotechnical evaluation, no major risks were identified.
However, an additional report identified a risk of frost heaving that required mitigation to ensure long-term structural integrity of the rink.
Recommended mitigation efforts included the implementation of rigid foam insulation beyond the perimeter of the concrete slab under the rink to reduce frost heaving.
“The insulation is to prevent a layer of water from freezing or a layer of material from absorbing water, freezing, and then causing the frost heave,” said Reiley McKerracher, Director of Municipal Services. “Council may decide not to proceed with the recommendation, but be advised that there is a risk with regard to the frost heave.”
McKerracher explained that if frost heaving does occur, there are potential remediation methods; however, it would be dependent on the location and how severe it is.
Mayor Craig Snodgrass expressed that he was not in support of the additional funding.
“The amount of money that we allocated to this project is $750,000. That's the money we've got to enhance this facility and make a nice facility,” he said. “I'll continue to support the project, but not with a $400,000 increase to it.”
Like Snodgrass, Councillor Michael Nychyk explained that he was supportive of the project without the increase in funding.
“We are in an environment that has cause and effect on concrete. I don't think it's going to be perfect, but I don't think in the first year this thing is going to crack, heave, and fall apart,” he said. “I think over 10 or 20 years, we're going to see some marginal cracking.”
Council defeated the motion to increase the budget from the approved $750,000 to $1.15 million to mitigate subsurface risks.
The original design of the rink will proceed.