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Council backtracks on repairs for sinking arena

"I don't want to see us dig it up nine months from now"

JOHN THOMPSON

Iqaluit City Council has backed off on plans to fix the Arctic Winter Games arena, which has been sinking into the tundra since 2003, just weeks after voting to award a $329,000 contract for the work.

That plan would have seen concrete in the arena torn up, new sand smoothed over the foundation, refrigeration pipes replaced and surrounding wooden boards strengthened.

But when the city's chief administrative officer, Ian Fremantle, returned from vacation and examined the decision, he said he was concerned the city would be wasting its money.

The city had hired the engineering firm FSC to study the sinking arena and come up with a solution. In early July, FSC wrote the city a letter outlining two possible plans. Council voted to go ahead with the least expensive option, but according to the letter, that choice was "never intended as a final solution to the problem."

"They're not really eliminating the problem," Fremantle said.

That's because water continues to seep beneath the tundra into the building's crawlspace, eroding the arena's sand foundation. FSC's letter to the city suggests a clay barrier could be put in the soil to prevent water from causing further erosion, but Fremantle said the source of the problem should be addressed first, rather than after further construction.

"I don't want to see us dig it up nine months from now."

Fremantle also said the firm should make a presentation to council to answer their questions before any decisions are made. "That's what we paid them to do."

After listening to Fremantle's concerns at a meeting on Tuesday, council voted to halt any work on the arena. The next day city officials phoned GC North, the contractor hired to do the work, and told them the project would be put on hold.

No formal letter agreeing to the contract had been mailed to GC North for the work at that point.

Recreation director David St. Louis, who acted as SAO in Fremantle's absence, said he couldn't comment on the earlier decision made by council.

"It's a very touchy situation."

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