Wildfire evacuation delays opening of Yellowknife aquatic centre

The evacuation of Yellowknife over the summer due to a wildfire will delay the opening of the highly anticipatedaquatic centre.

Sheila Bassi-Kellett, Yellowknife's city manager, told CBC News that the project will likely be delayed abouttwo and a half months.

The city initially expected thebuilding to be completed inSeptember 2024, but Bassi-Kellett saidthe aquatic centrelikely won't open until sometime between January andMarch 2025.

"Virtually everything that went on in the city, we had to press pause for three weeks during August and early September," she said.

The cost of constructing the pool, however, is not expected to increase due to provisions in the contractbetween the city and the builders that protect against significant cost fluctuations.

Bassi-Kellettadded there are contingency costs, which are estimated expenses for potential disruptions, that are being used as a result of the delay.

"We are eating into a bit of that contingency with some of thesedelays, but we are still within the overall budget," she said.

The city of Yellowknife is locked into a $71-million price tag for the project.

In November 2021, residents of Yellowknife voted through a city referendum to support the city borrowing $10 million toward the completion of the proposed new aquatic centre.

The rest of the project is being paid for by federal grant funding, and other government funding streams along with some city savings.

The future aquatic centre will replace the agingRuth Inch Memorial Pool, but what will happen with the former pool is still undecided.

Bassi-Kellett said the city was hoping to determine the facility'sfuture this past year, but this was also delayed.

"We never want to see a building that's good...to not be utilized," she said.

"And so we do have plans to look at what the options and opportunities could be for that building. We're hoping to get to that work in 2024."

One suggestionfor the Ruth Inch Memorial Pool isturning it into an arts centre.