It’s just a matter of time before Terrace Aquatic Centre can reopen.
The City of Terrace issued a release Tuesday saying repair work is underway on a tiling defect discovered last August in the tile works around the edge of the main pool.
A weir inside the lap pool’s flush gutter system is supposed to allow overflow water to pass into gutter before entering the filtration system and returning to the pool, explained Karisa Petho, city communications officer.
“The weir tile has a profile on the underside that has deep contours, and a portion of irregular contour was not entirely filled with tileset material. The resulting void fills with pool water and then seeps … through the porous tile.”
After getting another opinion from an inspection association, the city issued a notice of default to Viking Construction, meaning the contractor had five days to come up with a plan to fix the problem. A plan was made and repair work is well underway, according to the city.
“Since that time, the City’s project team has continued to work with our prime contractor, Viking Construction, to rectify the issue, and the City is exercising its rights under the contract to ensure the deficiency is corrected to the City’s satisfaction as quickly as possible and without any further cost to the city,” the release read.
READ MORE: Pool opening further delayed
Viking Construction’s main contractor for the project said in August they will be using the same subcontractor to do the repair work. Once that’s done, the pool can be commissioned and the centre should open soon after, Petho said.
“Viking Construction is working very diligently to resolve the deficiency,” she said. “The good news is it’s going to be fixed, and it’s going to be fixed quickly.”
An opening date will be decided once the contractor can confirm when they expect the work to be done. At this time Viking Construction was unavailable for comment.
Mayor Carol Leclerc said that while the city recognizes the long delay in the pool’s completion has been “difficult” for residents and apologizes for the inconvenience, the project is still the most cost-effective option to providing an upgraded aquatic facility.
“We knew going into it that it would be a complex project as a reconstruction of an old facility, but we were thrilled to be given the opportunity to do the $8.8 million renewal with the support of the $4.325 million grant from UBCM’s Gas Tax Strategic Priorities Fund,” Leclerc said in the statement.
“The project has been a challenge but the city’s project staff are doing everything they can to ensure that the end product is what the City’s taxpayers are paying for and is a fully renewed facility we can take pride in.”
brittany@terracestandard.com
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