The construction at Riel Park is on schedule for completion in June, as advertised.
The $8.5-million second phase is also on pace to be slightly under budget, said Tracy Allen, manager of capital projects for the City of St. Albert.
The project started last summer and has included the continuation of capping and grading work that began during the first stage. It has also included a new announcer’s booth, pens and bleachers at the Kinsmen Rodeo Grounds, a new BMX track with support building and the construction of washrooms by the multi-use field.
It’s part of a larger, four-stage project prompted by a 2004 federal order to address leachate seeping into the Sturgeon River from a former sewage lagoon and landfill. The city has been working ever since to measure and control the situation, spending about $24 million to date.
The impending completion of stage two is particularly exciting for area BMX enthusiasts. The local track has been closed since last year and locals are itching to get their wheels dirty on the new, state-of-the-art facility, said board member Marnie Vickery.
“There’s a real excitement throughout the entire BMX community to get this open. We get emails every day from all over Alberta asking when we’re going to be open,” she said.
Remaining work on the BMX facility includes some millwork inside the building and erecting a new grandstand, she said.
The city had originally projected that the stage could be done by last November but weather delayed completion until this year. The focus had been on getting the rodeo grounds ready for the Rainmaker Rodeo, which happened May 27 to 29.
Remaining work includes landscaping, grass seeding and sodding, Allen said.
“In my department, we’re happy to see phase two wrapping up to completion but we won’t feel the huge relief until this whole project is done,” she said.
City council will have its next round of discussion on the third and fourth stages on Monday when the standing committee on finance meets.
That project, projected at $8 million, seeks to unearth the rugby and soccer fields so they can be capped and graded according to provincial standards.
The remediation project has been plagued by missed cost projections and increasing scope due to unforeseen complexity of cleaning up a decades-old environmental problem.
On one hand it’s nice to see progress happening, said Mayor Nolan Crouse, but the costs are a constant concern.
“It’s one that’s bothered me all along,” he said. “Tearing up the rugby and soccer fields is bothersome for me, both for the costs as well as the interruption.”
It would cost $5.2 million to remove the current surface structure, including trees, and install a clay cap to Alberta Environment standards. It would cost a further $2.8 million to restore the soccer, rugby and cricket facilities to their current states, the city estimates.
There is also a question around what type of irrigation system would serve the needs of the rugby and soccer associations while also falling within the city’s budget.
