Niagara Region is taking over the construction of the Canada Summer Games Park currently being built at Brock University.
Regional Chair Jim Bradley says the decision will allow the former manager – the Canada Summer Games Committee – to focus on other aspects of the event, while the region can oversee construction and manage how money is spent and any cost overruns.
Council previously voted to cover any capital or operational overruns for the Games.
After an in-camera meeting that lasted more than two hours, Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said he supported the decision.
“The decision to do this has been already made,” he said. “We have committed and we are not partially committed – just like you can’t be partially pregnant. We are in this for the long haul. It’s a good decision for the region to backstop this … because then we’ve got some control. We are going to have control over the outcome.”
So far, Niagara has committed $24 million to the project. Infrastructure built for the games will eventually be run by a consortium that includes Brock University, the Region, the City of St. Catharines, and the City of Thorold and be available for community use.
The federal and provincial governments have announced additional infrastructure funding of $58 million ($29 million each).
The park will include a quad gym, two ice pads, a track-and-field facility, beach volleyball courts, a cycling pavilion, and parking. The gym will have an upper-level, 200-metre track for walking and running in winter.
A new accessible rowing facility on Henley Island will cost about $5 million.
Aquicon was awarded the contract last fall and started construction immediately. The company is no stranger to the area, having built a four-pad hockey arena in Niagara Falls and the Vale Health and Wellness Centre in Port Colborne, a multi-use recreational facility that houses ice rinks, a fitness centre and a pool. Aquicon was also contractor for the multi-million dollar transformation of Niagara College’s Welland Campus, a massive expansive project.
“Aquicon was very good to work with and I’m confident they will do an excellent job building the 2021 Canada Summer Games facilities in Niagara,” Dioti said in a statement.
Daniel Aquino, president of Aquicon, said his entire team is excited to get started.
“The biggest thing for us is adding something to the community. When you can tag yourself onto the flagship project of something like the Canada Summer Games, it’s pretty special.”
Acting Niagara Region CAO Ron Tripp says the summer games project is about $2 million over budget – including unforeseen soil conditions that have already been corrected.
According to a staff report “a series of unforeseen obstacles” including COVID-19 have affected the construction timeline. Work was halted for a few weeks due to provincial government restrictions, but Aquicon has now resumed construction.
Prior to voting in favour of taking over management of the project, councillors asked the CAO if the region could ask the province to delay the games by a year.
“To me, our original sin is agreeing to assume responsibility for cost overruns, both capital and operating, without strong oversight,” Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop said.
Many councillors said they would “reluctantly” support the plan.
“I believe that we’ve almost been backed into a corner and now we don’t have a choice in the matter,” said Councillor Tom Insinna.
According to the CAO, taking over management of the project will “give staff, and council, a clear line of sight on the budget as well as an early opportunity to mitigate overruns.”
“Fundamentally I don’t like this … but I don’t have a big choice in the matter. We are going to be on the hook for whatever it’s going to cost,” said Councillor Campion, mayor of Welland.
This will give us a bit more authority over how much money is being spent and on what.