It’s official.
At their Dec. 8 meeting, Port Hardy council received the results from the alternative approval process (only two electors voted against it) and they approved the borrowing of 2.3 million dollars from the taxpayers that is needed to help fund the swimming pool revitalization project.
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Now all that’s left is the final bylaw reading, which will happen in January.
Port Hardy mayor Dennis Dugas was pleased to say they are finally moving forward on the long-delayed five-year project, jokingly calling it the “never ending story.”
Dugas added once the bylaw is finalized they will have the authority to borrow from the taxpayers, “but we will not do the borrowing until we get approval for the grant funding that will cover the rest of the project.”
The total cost of the swimming pool revitalization project is projected to be 8.5 million dollars.
If the District of Port Hardy’s grant application is successful (they are hoping to hear back from the government early on in 2021) then they will put the project out for tender, and if the bids come in favourable, “we will move forward,” confirmed Dugas.
He added council would really like to see the project break ground in 2021. “It’s going to take approximately 12 months to 18 months to do all the work, but everything inside [the building] is going to be brand new, so when you walk in it will look completely different.”
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