MARATHON — The $1.35-million Pebble Beach project is experiencing another delay, as the last few finishing touches to complete the project are in short supply.
“They're finishing off with little final touches, landscaping and a little fill here, little fill there, a couple of rails, the bump guards for the cars, all that stuff will be taken care of this week and early next,” said Mayor Rick Dumas in an interview this week.
The municipality was hopeful that the ribbon-cutting event would take place on Oct. 24; however, the on-site contractors have asked to move the grand opening to a later date so they can ensure that all safety components for the project are in place.
Dumas is now stating that supply shortages have caused the event to move to Nov. 13.
The Pebble Beach project has seen its fair share of pitfalls over the years.
Before the COVID pandemic, the municipality was awarded $450,000 from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation; however, the project was pushed back due to the pandemic.
Post-pandemic, rising inflation rates put the projected cost close to $2 million, resulting in the municipality scaling back its original plans.
Dumas said the tender process tripled the original estimate the municipality received pre-pandemic.
"The playground equipment jumped up dramatically. Say we looked at playground equipment that was $200,000 — it came back at $500,000. The campsite is basically clearing, running some electrical conduit and landscaping and a couple of picnic table areas with concrete pads. That all doubled and tripled from the time we did the engineering [in] 2022 to go to tender for 2023."
“It was just like, wow, this is really outrageous, but we knew there was going to be an increase. We just didn't think it was going to be that much. It's frustrating. We had to eliminate some of those key aspects, but it's okay,” Dumas added.
Despite these challenges, Dumas is confident that the municipality's vision for Pebble Beach will move forward in the coming years. First council will need to examine its budget for 2024 going into 2025, to see if it is feasible to continue looking at the campsite or the enhanced playground.
Council will be looking at government assistance from FedNor and the NOHFC to provide additional help.
“I think the key for me and the council will be to get that system to the lake as much because it gives more access to more people for mobility issues, not going to get a wheelchair down there, but you're going to have a tiered system where it's not just a loose sand and gravel,” said Dumas.
So that would be key for next year's budget, the rest of the stuff if funding comes through and we can manage it and there's some programs out there, we'll definitely look at it, but for now the park is good and we'll anticipate those things coming in the future if the funding is available from those two federal [and] provincial agencies,” Dumas continued.