The North Cariboo Joint Advisory Committee supports a funding application to expand the concession at the West Fraser Centre in Quesnel.
The request is to the Northern Development Initiative Trust for 100 thousand dollars.
Jeff Norburn, the Director of Community Services, also provided the committee with a couple of potential options for expansion at Tuesday night’s meeting.
“We did hire a design consultant to provide drawings for two options to expand the concession, one into the Dunkley room and one into the upstairs lobby.”
Norburn noted that the first option into the Dunkley Room would be more expensive as it would require moving a couple of doors and some electrical.
Richard Gauthier, the Recreation Manager, addressed concerns about the option of potentially pushing the concession into the lobby.
“I know concern here is pushing out into the lobby area. but I think we could kind of figure that out or taking care of that lining people up better. It’s like the bank teller, you’re going up one row and coming down another. I think we could have them starting maybe more at the top and then you come down and kind of weave their way through so to speak.”
Staff will be bringing back the cost estimates of both options at a future meeting.
The reason that expansion is on the table is that there was a fire in the concession back on February 27th.
Norburn said that they were still waiting for the amount that will be getting in an insurance claim.
“The city and CRD staff have been in contact with the insurance company and their representatives. However, we do not yet have confirmation of the scope of work that will be covered by the claim, or the estimated cost to repair the damage. That’s something we’re hoping to get this week. Discussion with the insurance company indicates that they are receptive to providing a cash payout for the value of the repairs, which may be advantageous for the city and the CRD to consider if we plan to proceed with expansion of the concession because we won’t have to divvy it up the same way, we’ll just get a lump sum of money and we can put it towards an expansion.”
The rough estimated cost of an expansion would be in the 200 to 250 thousand dollar range, minus the insurance claim and potentially a grant.
No matter what the committee decides to do in the end, the concession is not expected to be ready for the start of the ice season and alternative options to provide concession services are now being looked at.