City receives second opinion on need for Memorial Centre floor repairs

The city has another opinion on whether the floor and ice pad rink of the Peterborough Memorial Centre needs to be replaced — but that opinion isn’t being shared with the public yet.

Ripping out the PMC floor and replacing it would displace the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers lacrosse team for its entire season next year, and team officials said it would cost fans and sponsors to a devastating degree.

So in early September, city council voted to get another consultant’s opinion before hiring a construction firm to tear up the floor and begin the $3.5-million replacement in June.

Councillors decided in September that if the new opinion is consistent with the earlier assessments obtained by the city — that the floor needs replacement — the plan will be followed without further council debate.

But if other options are uncovered, those are expected to be reported to council.

At a meeting on Dec. 3, councillors can expect to discuss a new opinion they’ve recently received.

That much was confirmed by city community services commissioner Allan Seabrooke, who also said a city staff report on the matter will be released Nov. 29.

But that’s all he’d say.

“Sorry, but I do not want anything reported until council sees the report,” wrote Seabrooke in an email to The Examiner on Tuesday.

The cost for the opinion was expected to be $6,000. The Examiner has learned that a Toronto engineering firm called Entuitive was hired to supply the opinion.

Calls to the consultants weren’t returned by deadline Tuesday.

Meanwhile Tim Barrie, who has represented the senior and junior Lakers, and Peterborough Petes president Dave Pogue both confirmed to The Examiner they’ve received copies of the Entuitive report.

But they didn’t share details on Tuesday, saying they’ve been asked to keep the report confidential until Nov. 29.

Barrie and Pogue also said they were present, along with city staff members, when Entuitive consultants inspected the PMC floor and its supports.

Nearly two years ago, city staff noticed spalling and cracks in one area of the concrete foundation wall beneath the ice surface.

On the advice of at least two structural engineering firms, council considered replacing the PMC floor in the summer of 2018 — but that would have displaced the Lakers in a year when they are eligible to host the Mann Cup (which they hosted and won).

So council planned to do the work in the summer of 2019, instead.

The plan had been to start the floor replacement in June for completion Nov. 1, which was expected to delay home games for the Peterborough Petes for a few weeks into their 2019-20 season.

But before that plan was ratified at a meeting on Sept. 11, Barrie urged council to seek another opinion on whether a simple repair could be done on the floor rather than a full replacement.

A year-long displacement could sink the Lakers financially, Barrie said. “It could be catastrophic,” Barrie said at the time. “If we do survive, it will take years to build back up.”

More details on the Entuitive report will be online Nov. 29 at www.city.peterborough.on.ca