Details of St. Vital Church rehab shared with council

Battleford town council got a better idea Monday of what the rehabilitation effort will be at St. Vital Church.

Jesse Crozier of S L Contractors Ltd. went before council to provide a project update explaining what the process will be. S L Contractors Ltd. had put forward the proposal to renovate the exterior and the structure of the old church, which council accepted at their last meeting in August.

S L Contractors Ltd. also did the work on the old post office on 22nd St. in Battleford to restore the building and have it re-open to the public.

The rehab work will save the old church and at the same cost that the town would have incurred had the building been demolished — between $50,000 and $60,000. But the structure will not be open to the public.

Crozier said at the moment their efforts are “exploratory.” They had been collaborating with Ryan Shepherd, building inspector, on what to do with the foundation work and have revised their plans to meet building code standards.

What Crozier described in detail were plans to stabilize the existing structure and give it more support. Their new approach is to do a pier under each one of the uprights, and put a grey beam between the two.

That would create a foundation around the original building. They plan to do much the same with the back quadrant of the building. When they pour the concrete, it will be a two-stage pour, he said.

“When we’re done the whole thing is going to have decent support around it,” Crozier said. Also, if council wanted to pursue future development of the church in the future this wouldn’t affect that.

Crozier indicated they intend to keep pushing ahead with work at the St. Vital site.

The plan is to “go as quickly as we can, weather permitting, and just keep pushing and get working,” said Crozier. He also noted there has been tremendous interest from the public as well in the project.

“Everybody stops and asks questions, it’s awesome,” he said.

Jesse Crozier met town council Monday night to discuss plans for the rehab work at the St. Vital Church. Screenshot by John Cairns