Victoria looking to employ marginalized at new pool

More inclusion will boost chances for federal grants, mayor says

Victoria will look to include employment opportunities for marginalized individuals if and when it replaces the Crystal Pool.

Councillors have agreed to a motion put forward by Mayor Lisa Helps to develop a procurement plan that takes into consideration the federal government’s Community Employment Benefits Reporting Framework.

Helps said federal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi spoke to the issue very clearly at a Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Ottawa, saying that projects that get funding are expected to have some kind of employment benefit for marginalized people.

Inclusion of such a provision will strengthen any application for federal grant funds, she said, and city efforts will try to meet the federal requirements.

“They may say focus on youth or focus on First Nations. We don’t know,” Helps said in an interview.

Coleman said the idea is building on efforts to make the Crystal Pool replacement project “shovel ready.”

“The communities that win in the first instance will be those that have thought through this process and have applications already down on paper,” he said.

In February, council unanimously voted to replace the nearly 50-year-old Crystal Pool complex with a new facility at a budgeted $69.4 million. The new facility would include a universally accessible pool and wellness centre.

City staff are looking to a variety of grant programs for funding. They say the most promising program is Phase 2 of the federal Investing in Canada Plan, which is making $21.9 billion available for social infrastructure over 11 years.

The city has committed $10 million from reserves toward the project, but would have to go to referendum for approval to borrow if it isn’t successful in its grant applications.

Victoria already has spent $470,000 in project costs and has committed to paying Turnbull Construction Project Managers $1.3 million for project management services.

The city announced last week that it had awarded a $3.3-million contract for project design and engineering to HCMA Architecture and Design.

Meanwhile, staff have told council that costs will only go up if the project is delayed.

Taking market conditions into account, a local expert has pegged the annual cost escalation rate from 2018 onward to be six to eight per cent.

That translates to $385,000 to $475,000 a month. Those numbers are one to two per cent higher than initially projected, staff say.