Grant in hand, Storrington Centre upgrade costs balloon to meet it

Jeff Green | Apr 06, 2022

A couple of weeks ago, it appeared that South Frontenac was about to realise significant savings on the Storrington Centre Project, but those savings have shrunk as quickly as this winter’s snowfall.

Back in 2019, the township budgeted $400,000 to renovate the hall in order to improve storage and add an accessible washroom, all with the aim of making better use of the hall for public events.

Then project was put off, partly because of COVID, and because of that it became the subject of a grant application to the Canada Community Revitalisation fund, to cover ¾ of the costs.

Between 2019 and 2021, the costs estimate on the project had risen to $563,000, thanks to the addition of a new roof to the original project.

When the grant came through a few weeks ago, for $422,309, it looked like the township was only going to have to spend about $150,000 on the project, leaving a cool $260,000 to be put away for other uses down the line.

Now that the tenders have been opened for the project, those savings have been whittled away by over $100,000/

Of the six bids that were received, only one, which was from Jeffrey G. Wallans Construction, was for less that $750,000, and the average bid price was almost $900,000.

The Wallans’ bid, which is recommended for approval by staff because it met all the tender requirements and the company’s references checked out, was for $659,000.

Staff will consider the tender at their meeting this week. If they approve, the project is slated to commence in short order, for completion in a few months.

The renovations include energy savings components, including installing LED lighting and a heating system with a heat pump and a propane backup.