Just getting ready for Monday
According to the procedure on the Town's website and data gleaned from the MSM Monday evening will be busy for those who wish to have their say in the process. The Concert Hall is being rolled out for the occasion and everybody will dressed to the nines to hear five companies talk for ten minutes about their respecrtive submissions.
The general public - us - will have an opportunity to be heard by submitting questions to the Mayor and he will ask those questions directly.
The general public - us - will have an opportunity to be heard by submitting questions to the Mayor and he will ask those questions directly.
- Problem #1 - the downloadable comment form instructs that submissions will be accepted by Thursday Dec, 3rd, a little late for a Monday question?
- Problem #2 - What if the Mayor doesn't like your question, will he ask it?
Perusing the docs this morning elicited the following information:
- Giffels - no mention of size
- Peak - 121,000 sf
- Bird - 116,000 sf
- Bondfield - 125,000 sf
- Ball - no mention
- All documents boast about using the latest in recycled materials, diminishing construction waste that is to be landfilled and most propose to use the same ice-making apparatus that recycles water and chemicals, but none state the overall operating costs. It's about time we looked at building specs the way we do for cars - measure the energy consumption and costs
This is important when considering the overall construction costs. So the questions I will be submitting, and let's see if the Mayor asks them are:
- How much per square foot to construct each concept
- What is the proposed operating cost per square foot
Now for the floor plans, grabbed from each submission. I make no apologies for the quality. I really do think that as we get into the 21st Century electronic versions, other than pdf files should be mandated. For example an image that can be magnified is essential. Clicking on the image will get you a somewhat larger pic.
Ball Construction
Bird Construction
Bondfield Construction
Giffels Construction
Peak Construction
A description of the concepts can be found here
10 comments:
Do any of the floor plans show where the proposed indoor running track would be? How many metres would 1 lap of the track be?
Most of them look like 2 ice pads and 1 gym with the additional space that results given over to meeting rooms etc.
What a gold mine of information. No reader of this blog can claim they don't know enough about the designs to make a decision.
Thanks for your diligence Ben. Hopefully this will led to some pointed questions about operating costs at the meeting later today.
Not as many people showed up at the meeting as I expected, actually a lot less showed up. Of the commentators to this blog, I only noticed Wally Keeler and Manfred Schumann at the meeting. I didn't see any of the 'progressives' there -- perhaps they do care less.
The operating cost question was the only question that was asked of each of the five presentors. The other questions asked pertained to specifics of each particular project.
As far as I could determine, there was only one response to the operating cost concern that had any numbers to it. The rest just mouthed some entirely useless buzz and common knowledge phrases just to have something to say, other than "We have absolutely no idea". I think it was Giffels who uggested that similar cases can expect to see operating costs over somewhere from 20 to 30 years to be roughly equal to the original building cost.
That would translate to more than $900,000 dollars annually at the low end up to almost 1.5 million at the other end. That was inclusive of labour, I assumed. That's a minimum of $2,500 every day of every year.
I'm guessing ice-time and fresh towels won't come cheap!
BTW, the only presentation that stirred me was Bird Construction's thorough analysis of what the town is hoping to achieve with this project, apart from providing more ice surface, beyond our latest addition, the 'prink'. Sadly, but predictably, the majority of proposals were simply variations of what I assume the RFP suggested as the starting point, and hardly exhibited even one original idea among them (excluding Bird). That alone should put Bird Construction well ahead of the pack in the run off, as long as their tender is in the 'ballpark', or maybe it should be 'icerink'
It was broadcast on TV Cogeco.
You did not have to be spied by Mr. Keeler to watch it live.
But is he sure he did not see any anonymice from this blog there.
I saw him.
Actually there were no anonymice at the meeting. I stepped up to the front for a few moments and took several photographs of the audience. Every person there had an identifiable face -- no one hid themselves.
So, Mr. Keeler knows on sight everyone who posts here as "anonymous"
That's interesting.
It does make me wonder why he always makes such a fuss about demanding to know who every single "anonymous" is.
I should be in your photo of the audience. I'm the one with the knowing smile.
I have never demanded to know who every single anonymouse is.
There is a person with a knowing smile in the photo and I know it's not the anonymouse posting here.
Sheeesh, these anonymice use their anonymity to post wild untruths!
While we are on the subject of wild untruths, tell us more about your experience living in the Annapolis Valley, working picking apples while sending money back to maintain your home in Halifax.
Why should I?
You're just a faceless nobody.
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