Arena budget highlights disturbing faulty construction trend

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

Councillors are starting to notice a trend and they are not impressed.

When reviewing approximately $625,000 of funding needed to replace the parking lots at the Tribute Communities Centre, councillors questioned how such deterioration could occur in the 10 years since the building was constructed.

According to the city’s budget document, the south lot was showing extreme deterioration with cracking and heaving and further damage threatening its stability. It’s a clue that perhaps the 50-80 millimetres of granular base was not enough when the lot was first constructed.

“These were design deficits,” says Councillor Nancy Diamond. “This is coming back to haunt us within a very short time.”

During the original presentation to council in November, it was noted that, on top of the nearly $400,000 being considered for the TCC in 2017, an additional $220,000 could be required to repair the venues’s south parking lot. However, now the city’s budget document notes that “subsequent to an assessment by city staff,” all of the lots now need to to be replaced, hence the jump to $625,000. This is more in line with the capital forecast prepared for the facility in 2015, which noted that $621,687 would be needed for concrete and asphalt in 2017.

The crumbling lots are also posing a safety and liability risk for the city as heaving storm drains are causing cars to bottom out as they leave the south lot. In the venue’s loading bay, deterioration is threatening the building’s storm pump system as the sub-chamber sits directly beneath it and the steep incline is posing a risk to staff and shippers using the bay as it causes items to shift and become unstable.

However, the issue seemed to go back much further for some councillors, who questioned why they continue to have these issues with new projects.

Ongoing issues at the South Oshawa Community Centre and the Legends Centre have continued to drain city coffers, with the latter requiring nearly half a million dollars in additional spending to fix leaks, replace sidewalks and other improvements since its completion.

“The quality of construction is very significantly, negatively impacting us,” Diamond said.

The city also dealt with issues at the Durham Consolidated Courthouse following its construction and opening in 2010. The city recently received a $5.2-million legal settlement award because of those issues.

And while the additional dollars helped the city to offset some of its debt relating to the courthouse, should it have to come to legal action?

“Often I think that when people do work with municipalities, they think that it’s OK because they got lots of money, but in this city it’s not OK,” says Mayor John Henry. “We have been very proactive in recovering money for this community when it comes to not-so-great construction and I’m proud to say we’ve done pretty good.”