Part of the Regional Rec Centre in Owen Sound will be open to the public by the end of March.
City council on Monday night accepted a report from director of operations Brad McRoberts.
It says the arena portion of the 39 million dollar facility will be ready for owner occupancy by the end of February, and for public occupancy within another month.
The one-month gap will give city staff time to move into the facility and get up to speed on necessary training.
The exact date of the public opening is not known, so there’s no way right now to determine the date and time of the first public event to be held at the Rec Centre.
The City is also inviting Prince Charles and his wife Camilla to the opening in the Spring.
It’s also not clear whether the Coliseum will continue to operate alongside the Rec Centre for any length of time before the aging building is closed and decommissioned.
Also not known is when the Y portion of the building will itself be ready for occupancy.
The cost of the facility has gone up slightly to 39 million dollars — a small increase of 390 thousand dollars or one per cent.
Council also accepted two reports from McRoberts pertaining to the overall construction budget and the project’s contingency allowance.
When Council was adjusting the budget in the spring of 2010 — the allowance was reduced from just under 2 million to 1.2 million.
But, with the project not quite 90 per cent complete, the contingency funding has all been used.
Another 190 thousand dollars is needed to bring everything to completion.
Looking at the cost of construction, staff and the construction team have been working throughout to reduce a 1.8 million budget shortfall.
It’s now anticipated that the shortfall will be cut to only 200 thousand dollars by the time work is completed.
Added to the increase in the contingency fund, this is why the overall cost is going up 390 thousand dollars.
This means it could take the city an additional eight or nine months to pay off the 17 or 18 year debenture which will pay Owen Sound’s portion of the cost.
But Councillor Jim McManaman — the chair of the Rec Centre Steering Committee — stresses it still won’t have an impact on the municipal tax rate.
McManaman also shot down rumours in the community that the actual price tag is creeping closer to 44 million dollars — saying people with questions about costs are welcome to contact him.
