The Westview Park Pavilion will be coming down this month. Work to dismantle the structure has already begun.
City staff notified the Recreation and Culture Standing Committee of the impending removal at the committee meeting last Tuesday, Sept. 5.
“In early August, staff received notice regarding a lean of the Westview Park Pavilion. Upon investigating, staff closed off the pavilion until an engineer could complete a structural inspection,” reported Kari Kluke, director of recreation and culture.
The city promptly arranged for inspection and a report from Tulloch Engineering.
The structural engineer’s letter reports, “Based on our observations, Tulloch concludes that the structure has become unstable due to excessive environmental loading (snow and/or wind), inadequate or failed foundation support, loss of strength of embedded column bases due to corrosion, or a combination of these factors.”
Tulloch’s letter also states, “… it is the opinion of the undersigned that the Westview Park Pavilion is unsafe for occupancy and should remain closed to the public until such time as it may be safely deconstructed. It is also our view that structural rehabilitation of the pavilion would require extremely costly analysis, disassembly, foundation design/construction, replacement roof decking and frame reinforcement …”
“This investment would likely exceed the cost of a replacement structure.”
Timeline
The city was notified of the condition in an email message from a resident on Saturday, Aug. 5.
On the civic holiday Monday, Aug. 7, Acting Director of Public Works, Bill Goulding, inspected the pavilion.
City crews erected a safety fence barrier on Tuesday, Aug. 8.
Tulloch Engineering inspected the pavilion and provided a report to the City Aug. 17.
On Sept. 5, the Recreation and Culture Standing Committee was notified the structure would be dismantled.
Dismantling began Sept. 6.
Options for pavilion
At the Sept. 5 committee meeting, Councillor Rick Bull asked, “What are our plans for replacement since that park is quite well used?”
Kluke told Bull and the committee that staff's first step was to ensure public safety.
Following that, “We’re kind of exploring all options, but there’s no set decision.”
Kluke said that decision could come during the council budget process. The budget process begins in the fall.
Acting Mayor Andrew Wannan inquired, “So, there’s basically no way to salvage this? Recycle? Save material? The damage, I understand, has been ongoing for years and years and the structure is basically toast.”
Kluke responded, “That’s what the structural review stated, that it would cost probably more to try to salvage and reconstruct it based on the price to do that, [than to] build new or purchase a new one.”
Acting Director of Public Works, Bill Goulding commented, “Ms. Kluke has suggested and council has suggested in their strategic planning, that we’re to have a rec and culture review done on all of our rec facilities.”
“At that time we can integrate that information into our capital planning and make a plan to replace if that’s what the process bears out,” Goulding said.
Councillor Luc Morrissette commented, “I read online that we should wait before we dismantle it, but I think it’s prudent to do it now before somebody gets hurt. So, I think [dismantling it] is a good idea, but I’m looking forward to later on when we decide what to do with that area.”