A new seating area is in the works for the Sports Bowl.
Council approved the Hope Community Recreation Park concept design on Monday night and directed staff to undertake remediating the venue seating area as the immediate priority.
“I’d like to see a focus on something the community has really wanted for a long time because the seating area in the Sports Bowl will be used extensively for more than one event throughout the year,” said Coun. Donna Kropp. “I think it would enhance the overall vision that the community has for moving forward here and it’s something concrete.”
The district was awarded a $463,300 B.C. Community Recreation Program grant in March 2012 to help improve Sixth Avenue Park in order to increase the overall health and well-being of residents. The project includes upgrades to the Sports Bowl, picnic area, trail network, and skate park. There’s also plans to create a bike skills area adjacent to the arena, mountain bike track, disc golf, mud pit/drag area, and off-leash dog area. Consultant R.F. Binnie & Associates has estimated the entire project to cost about $3 million. So far, $49,162.88 in grant funding has been used to cover project costs, planning, designing, tendering and consultant fees.
The district now hopes to put the remaining grant funding ($414,137.12) towards improving seating at the Sports Bowl, which is broken down into two parts – the northwest and southwest areas. R.F. Binnie will be refining the cost estimate, completing the detailed design and preparing the tender package.
“Right now the rough cost with the contingency built in is about $700,000 for both areas,” said chief administrative officer John Fortolockzy. “However, our community consultant believes we can do some creative tendering and we have the opportunity to get some extra funds from the community and corporate partners.”
Hope Motorsports Group acquired 1,500 donated no-post barriers last year to reinforce the terraced seating area and increase spectator capacity at the Sports Bowl. The district has committed to using them in the project design, however, Fortolockzy said the installation work would have to be tendered.
“It’s expected, as they were the ones to come across them at such a low cost, that they would have every chance at winning that specific tender,” he added. “We are sensitive to the efforts made by local community members in regards to supporting the improvements in Hope Community Recreation Park.”