Bathurst scraps ice surface project at cost of $116K
The City of Bathurst's plan for an artificial, year-round ice surface has been scrapped after two-and-a-half years of setbacks and criticism from the community.
The initial investment of $116,000 consisted of $100,000 in provincial grant money, earmarked for recreation and tourism, and $16,000 from city coffers.
Installation began at the Promenade Waterfront gazebo in November 2014, but just hours into the project, the materials malfunctioned.
"These are [four-feet by eight-feet] sheets locked into a puzzle and there are locking mechanisms to put the surface together," said Luc Foulem, the city's communications director.
"During the course of the evening, there was a severe weather drop which was followed by creating cracks in a number of the pieces."
Despite assurances from the California-based company manufacturing and selling the sheets, the surface cracked and became unusable.
Council's vision for the rink was greeted with mixed reviews from Bathurst residents and once the project began to go downhill, citizens and patrons of businesses near the pavilion became more vocal in their disapproval.
City cuts its losses
The decision to scrap the project was made during a Jan. 9 in-camera meeting of council and administration.
The city had tried for years to contact the company to receive a reimbursement, to no avail.
"There has been essentially no contact with the company since the fall of 2015," said Foulem.
"To our best knowledge, the company has ceased operations and there's no contact information."
Despite the loss of provincial grant money and city taxpayers' own dollars, the city is moving on from the project, though some of the materials may be salvaged and reused.
They have been reassigned to create an artificial ice surface, inside, at the KC Irving Regional Centre during the summer months.
"If we look at training purposes for hockey on a small scale, the material we do have can construct an artificial surface 45 by 65 feet," said Foulem, pointing to a possible future use.
