TRURO – Management at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre (RECC) are no closer to setting an opening date, but when they announce one, they will do so with a bird’s eye view.
Jim Lambert, general manager, said he and members of the board from both Colchester County and Truro town council will meet with construction crews twice a week from here on out.
“We will monitor their progress through those meetings. When we finally say we’re comfortable on an opening day, it will be based on knowing their progress,” Lambert said Tuesday morning.
The centre was originally scheduled to open this past September, however that date was pushed back to October, and then again to November.
At the end of December, Lambert said the construction crew had a substantial completion date of Jan. 25, which meant Lambert would have keys in hand on that date.
“I’m suspecting the opening will be later in February, however that’s just my speculation,” Lambert said. “If they don’t get into anymore delays, that could happen, but you never know.”
A number of unforeseen problems have caused delays at the facility, including a problem with paint adhering to factory-applied primer to the beams above the NHL-size ice surface in the Community Credit Union Arena.
Laying the ceramic tile on the pool, the walls of the pool and the deck floor of the aquatics centre was also time consuming.
The delays have meant the Truro Jr. A Bearcats haven’t been able to move into the facility yet and it’s unknown when they will play their first home game in the arena.
Lambert doesn’t want to announce an opening date of the $48-million facility again without being confident that it will actually go ahead.