CSL rec centre progresses

By Joel Goldenberg

Côte St. Luc is making progress towards the completion of its $17.3 million intergenerational aquatic centre, slated for building later this year and scheduled completion by March 31 of next year.

The centre will contain a 25-metre swimming pool, a wading pool, an indoor terrace next to the pools, portable bleachers for 200 people, multifunctional community halls, a physical fitness room and dance and warm up studios.

Last month, the council announced that the likely location for the new centre will be next to the existing gymnasium on Parkhaven Avenue. Further statements from council seems to have solidified Parkhaven as the location. This was somewhat of a surprise, as Mayor Anthony Housefather previously said that there was not enough room in that spot, and that the two likely choices were the English Montreal School Board land across the street on Parkhaven, or Trudeau Park. The Suburban was told that the new building would be reconfigured to fit the spot after all. The federal, provincial and Côte St. Luc governments are each contributing a third of the cost of the project.

Since then, Côte St. Luc council also chose the firm MHPM Project Managers Inc. to oversee the project and design plans for the building. At a special council meeting last week and on his blog, Housefather said that in late April, a request for qualification (RFQ) was issued in which the project is described, to enable “potential suppliers to determine if they wish to compete.” The mayor said the deadline was May 17.

“Once submissions are received, we will review them and create a short list of suppliers to whom the city will send the request for proposal (RFP),” Housefather wrote. “This pre-qualification is necessary to ensure that the firms that eventually make a proposal to building the new facility have the qualifications and experience to do it in the time allotted. We are now in the process of writing the RFP and have been meeting with subject matter experts and various Côte St. Luc groups such as the Senior Men’s Club and Ladies Social Club to get their input into our requirements that will be set out in the RFP.”

In the meantime, the mayor pointed out, soil and environmental tests are being conducted. “We are also preparing the building massing, which is the process where we determine the best way to place the building on the available land,” he added.