Yorkton Council had a look at a very basic concept plan for a new clubhouse at Deer Park Golf Course, but then referred it to strategic planning in 2021, basically putting the brakes on furthering the plan.
The plan came about after another project grew in scope.
“In 2019, the City of Yorkton engaged aodbt architecture + interior design to consolidate a number of smaller studies, and requests from the community, into a broader Recreation Facilities Master Plan. The scope of the work was to develop and present a priority list of projects for the City to consider as part of future planning. The Plan was limited to indoor infrastructure, which only accounts for a portion of a community’s recreation infrastructure,” explained Darcy McLeod Community Development, Parks and Recreation with the City at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Monday.
“Considered within the indoor Recreation Facilities Master Plan, dated October 10, 2019, was a condition assessment of the Deer Park Clubhouse. The Plan concluded that the Deer Park “club house has reached the end of its useful life. The club house was experiencing leaks, and there are a number of accessibility and code violations throughout.”
Following discussion on other recreation infrastructure during the May 11, 2020 Council meeting, Council directed Administration to engage aodbt to further investigate the options for replacing the aging clubhouse at the golf course.
A steering committee including course users, Council and Administration members was struck.
The Steering Committee worked with aodbt to conduct a user engagement process to obtain feedback from users on conceptual design options for replacement of the clubhouse, said McLeod.
“As has been mentioned as part of other community projects, a user/community engagement process is an excellent way to determine community need and receive feedback on concept designs, however the drawback is that the scope of the design may creep beyond the intended outcome. The direction from Council, as has been noted on other projects, is “if we are going to do anything we are going to do it right.” This was also echoed in our engagement process. In this case, the intent was to consider options for replacing the existing clubhouse, however other options were explored to ensure that the process was considered as “doing it right” since we are building, not only for today, but for the future as well,” he said.
Aodbt presented three conceptual design options for the clubhouse replacement with different levels of service accommodations.
Different locations were also explored as part of the process.
The cost of the project could vary significantly depending on location and size and available such as golf cart storage, and whether City water and sewer is taken to the facility, leaving a range of $2.5 to $4 million or more, details further planning would iron out.
The recommendation of Administration was that Council refer the Deer Park Clubhouse Replacement project discussions to a 2021 strategic planning session of Council to determine the preferred option, and further direct Administration to allocate $185,000.00 in the 2021 capital budget to engage a consultant to continue through 100 percent detailed design of the preferred option, once selected by Council.
While Council would debate details at length, their visions will not be acted upon, at least in the short term as the matter was referred without an allocation of dollars for further planning and will not be initiated until at least sometime in 2021, and most likely 2022 as the funds will need to be budgeted for.
