Mayor digs in

By Ron Seymour Thursday, August 16, 2007 http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories.php?id=59664

Mayor Sharon Shepherd took to the controls of an excavator Wednesday morning, scraping away a few inches of earth to symbolically begin construction of Kelowna‘s new aquatic centre. “Slowly . . . easy . . . ,” excavator operator Mike Mallo called out from a few metres away, as an intent-looking Shepherd manipulated two joysticks to manoeuvre the boom, stick and bucket. Watched by Coun. Brian Given, various civic officials and representatives from all of Kelowna‘s media outlets, Shepherd dug a little way into the ground at the Mission sports centre, where the $46.3-million pool will be built. “That was pretty easy,” she said with a laugh after clambering down from the excavator and removing her hard hat and construction vest. Work has already started on the leisure centre, which will include a 50-metre pool, waterslides, wave-making machine, surfing simulator and 10,000-square-foot fitness centre. “This will truly be the best public aquatic facility in British Columbia,” Shepherd said. The preload pile, needed to compact the marshy ground, is being taken off and work has begun on the foundation. “This morning, we will also have the first concrete pour and we are on our way to the completion of this facility in the spring of 2009,” Shepherd said. Using green technology, the centre will consume half the energy of comparably sized buildings, Shepherd said. The city is paying for the pool with a combination of borrowing, reserve funds, local tax dollars and a grant from the province. The owner of a typical home assessed at $350,000 will pay a tax increase of five per cent, $73 a year, for the pool.