Council checks for 'big voids' under Annapolis Valley municipal building

Annapolis County Council is struggling to deal with the structural issues at a municipal building in Cornwallis Park, N.S.

The Basinview Centre has retail stores, a pool facility and a walking track. One section of the building was built in 1977 and an addition was constructed in 2005. The main pool is now closed due to leaks, but the children's pool and a therapy pool are still open to the public.

On Tuesday the council agreed to spend $39,000to determine the stability of the ground underneath the building. Four drilling sites will be createdoutside the centre along itsnorth side,while threemore will be done inside.

"To tell us what kind of shape the underside of that building is in, whether we've got big voids under that building," said Deputy Warden Michael Gunn."We won't know until that geo-technical work is done."

But councillors would not agree to spend more $300,000 to deal with problems along an eastern wall. Experts are not sure what is causing a wall to pull away, but in order to find out, the walking track would have to be shut down. County councillors were concerned about going ahead with that work before the stability of the ground was determined.

"We're really struggling with this one, we want to make the right decision," said Coun. Bruce Prout.

County councillors would only agree to do some exploratory work into the structural issues of the eastern wall.

"I kind of think we are being backed into a corner on this because of time, and we're being pushed into a decision that might be right and might be wrong.We don't know," said Coun. Wendy Sheridan.

County councillors were feeling pressured because of a letter they received from the municipality's current insurance company. Its previous coverage for the Basinview Centre was cancelled at the end of December. Another company agreed to provide insurance until the end of May.

"As I understand it they're waiting to see what [work]we intend to do and then they'll decide whether they continue any coverage," said Warden Alan Parish.

County councillors plan to have experts come to a council meeting so they can ask questions. They also agreed to have the chief administrative officer explore all options for the Basinview Centre, including selling it or finding someone else to operate the building on behalf of the municipality.

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