A new ice rink added to Maple Ridge’s recreation renovation list will boost the price by $20 million, while the cost to refit the Maple Ridge Leisure Centre is jumping by $2.5 million.
Two weeks ago, council considered building an Albion community centre on 104th Avenue, in tandem with a promised new school, in addition to building two new artificial sports fields at Thomas Haney secondary.
The cost for the community centre and two fields was estimated at $20 million.
Council then asked how much it would cost to build a third hockey arena at Planet Ice.
Staff came back with a report Tuesday saying a new rink would add $20 million to the list of projects, effectively doubling the overall cost.
Council looked at the new numbers at its Tuesday meeting as it tries to find a way to improve facilities in the city.
Two other artificial fields are already separately funded and are soon to get underway at Merkley Park and Golden Ears elementary, near Thomas Haney.
Staff sketched out four payment scenarios for council for the new facilities, with or without the additional ice rink.
The first scenario would cost $20 million to build the two fields and Albion community centre.
Half of that will come from city savings accounts and the other from borrowing – resulting in a 0.4-per-cent property tax increase for five years.
By the end of that period, the average homeowner would pay about another $40 a year in city taxes.
Other options, though, include borrowing more money and taking less from savings accounts, with one scenario calling for borrowing $41 million to pay for the fields, community centre, additional ice rink and additional leisure centre costs.
However, that would work out to a property tax hike of almost 0.6 per cent for seven years.
Another option calls for more extensive renos to Planet Ice, along with the new fields, building the Albion community centre, and leisure centre repairs – totalling $58 million.
That would see a property tax increase of 0.7 per cent a year over seven.
Coun. Craig Speirs favours the earlier plan, focusing on the two new fields and Albion community centre.
“It makes sense to put them forward. We need playing fields. It doesn’t mean we don’t need ice rinks,” he said Tuesday.
But he prefers any new ice rinks remain part of the grander scheme for recreation improvements and which were recently shelved by council following six months of public input.
That plan includes a $70-million aquatic centre, a $30-million sports stadium and $40-million civic and cultural centre.
Three years ago, costs of the leisure centre renos, a separate project, were estimated at $5.5 million.
But changes to the dressing rooms and other factors have added to that.
Costs for the projects could be overestimated to insure that the city has enough money to cover all of them without having to go to a second referendum.
Council earlier said it wants to use the alternative approval process, in which 10 per cent of the voters are required to reject borrowing.
The city’s new community amenity charges, where developers pay more when zoning density is increased, could also pare down costs, but those revenues aren’t predictable.