City searches for funds to fix AWG Arena

JOHN THOMPSON

After waffling over whether to fix the Arctic Winter Games Arena, Iqaluit council appears prepared to commit to repairs — if it can find the money.

Last month council backed off on plans to fix the arena, which has been sinking into the tundra since 2003, just weeks after voting to award a $329,000 contract for the work.

The city hired the engineering firm FSC to study the sinking arena and come up with a solution. That plan would see concrete in the arena torn up, new sand smoothed over the foundation, refrigeration pipes replaced and surrounding wooden boards strengthened.

But this project doesn’t aim to fix the root of the problem: water that flows beneath the tundra and continues to wash away the building’s foundations.

When the city’s chief administrative officer, Ian Fremantle, returned from vacation in August and examined the plans, he said he was concerned the city could be wasting its money, and the work was put on hold.

Responding to criticism from council this week, Terry Gray from FSC said his firm was only hired to fix the arena’s ice surface, although a proposed clay curtain beneath the ground — not included in the immediate plans — would likely stop the migrating water. He also said the longer the city waits, the more the damage could grow.

“At some point the work will have to take place,” he said. “It’s not money badly spent.”

Now the city is scrambling to find the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to go ahead with the work.

“Where’s that money coming from? Because it’s not in the budget,” said Fremantle. Administration will report back to council by Sept. 21 on whether that money can be found.