Hub Staff

Following a trim of amenities, including a proposed canteen, an extra washroom facility and a covered area, Saugeen Shores Council approved, in principle, a Beach House design with an estimated cost of $505,000 during the August 28 Committee of Whole meeting.

The previously proposed design came in at $1.2 million and was unanimously defeated during a June 26 meeting.

In a report to Council, Director of Community Services Jayne Jagelewski said that staff had met with architects to discuss six possible options for the proposed facility and decided option #5 would be optimal. The design consists of accessible sidewalk construction on the west side of the facility which would link into the future addition of the promenade. It includes four accessible family pods with fixtures and floor tiles that will accommodate an entire family and a complete renovation of existing washrooms with the current changing areas being converted to bathroom stalls.

The proposed facility also includes a municipal storage area. “We have no storage right now at the waterfront,” said Jagelewski. “By storage I mean as far as tractors, golf karts we use at the harbour, rototillers, so by having that equipment onsite allows us much more quickly to deploy it when needed.”

Jagelewski stated in her report that the project was reviewed by the Waterfront Advisory Committee who gave their input and recommendations and it was their preference to proceed with option #5.

Councillor Mike Myatt stated that “going from $1.2 million to around $500,000 makes a whole lot more sense” but questioned that the project manager fee hadn’t been included and would accumulate to 12 per cent of overall costs. Jagelewski said the cost would go toward architectural engineer costing “that we do not currently have on staff.” She then went onto say that they were cognizant of time commitment for the Town’s facilities manager and that the job would be outside of that.

Councillor Neil Menage stated that Port Elgin Main Beach facility was “long overdue.”

“We have the facilities that we require by the number of users that are on our waterfront. I’m a little disappointed that there isn't more to it but I understand that some way to control spending is also a good answer,” he added.

Following the August 28 approval, the design will go through the tender process and will be brought back to council at a later date.

A new floor plan was included in the presentation to Council.