MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown Ice Arena project as currently presented seems to be approaching the point of no return.
Morgantown City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted in favor of a supplemental resolution approving the sale of bonds to finance the project.
But based on details shared during council’s discussion, there clearly remains some level of discomfort.
One, the project previously estimated in the $10.4 million to $11.5 million range, now appears to have an all-in price believed to be closer to $13 million.
More troubling, according to Deputy Mayor and BOPARC President Danielle Trumble, is that number is based off the single bid received for the project.
“To be very up front, I’m very uncomfortable that we only got one bid out of four companies who attended our pre-bid informational meetings,” Trumble said, explaining that she believed the BOPARC board had set a hard limit of $11.5 million for the ice arena overhaul.
BOPARC meets at 3 p.m. today. At that time, the body will decide whether to accept this bid; whether it will keep optional WVU locker rooms in the project at a cost of $745,000, or even rebid the project.
Tom Aman, the city’s bond counsel, explained Tuesday’s vote is not a mandate, but simply an authorization to proceed in the event BOPARC agrees on parameters under which it wants to move forward.
If that should happen, things would begin moving very quickly, culminating in a March 7 closing date on the bonds.
Aman also noted the elevated cost of the project represents a cost overrun within 10% of original projections, which is actually a decent number in the current construction market.
“I think a 10% bid overrun is pretty low based on what we’ve been seeing the last year – 20%, 30%, 40% wouldn’t be unusual,” Aman said, later adding, “You don’t see with the passage of time costs coming down, regardless even of any extraordinary circumstances. Materials shortages, you know, there’s always something going on so that those prices seem to be going up.”
But the rising cost will likely be fuel for critics of the project, particularly within the hockey community, who have said the city is paying way too much for a renovation project that preserves the worst parts of the current facility – the large, wooden structural beams. They contend it would be far cheaper to start from scratch and build a more functional facility.
Joe Kline made that point during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting.
“I urge city council and BOPARC to rethink and reimagine what could be. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for this community,” he said.
