The Town of Newmarket plans to increase the budget for its signature Mulock Park project, adding $8 million due to inflation to bring the park portion to $48 million.
Town staff is bringing an update to the project’s budget to council Feb. 13. With construction at the park slated to kick off this year, staff have revised the estimated cost of the project by $8 million. Staff also now have exact dollar figures for other planned parts of the project, with an additional $14.3 million allotted for the completion of the Mulock house adaptive reuse and $3.2 million for off-site parking. That would make the combined cost for all aspects of the project to $65.5 million.
Still, the town said this will not impact the tax rate and the increase will be funded through development charges and reserves. Commissioner of development and infrastructure services Peter Noehammer defended the project and said it stems from a multi-year consultation and community vision.
“Newmarket is growing, and we need to ensure that we have beautiful greenspaces and amenities not only for our current residents but for future residents, too,” Noehammer said. “The work and cost today will create a space that our Newmarket residents can use for generations to come.”
The park portion of the project was initially estimated at $40 million. The town has spent years planning for the creation of a new Mulock Park on the property once owned by Sir William Mulock. Elements will include a skate trail and pavilion, a natural playground, gardens and artist space.
Noehemmer said rapid inflation of construction prices over the past couple of years — about 30 per cent overall — has driven up the costs for the park work package by $8 million. But he said they sought to use value engineering to keep the costs below market inflation, which would have been $52 million.
“Understanding that construction costs were on the rise, we proactively conducted extensive value engineering to find ways to maintain the community’s vision while cutting costs,” Noehammer said.
Some Newmarket residents have expressed concern with the price tag for the park project over the years. As president of the Newmarket Taxpayers’ Advocacy Group, Kathy Kumpula said the cost escalation does not surprise her.
“There may not be a direct tax impact, but there will be other detrimental impacts on the town as a whole if monies from development charges, gas tax and parking lot development, etc, that could be used elsewhere, continue to be funnelled into the Mulock project," she said.
But town treasurer Mike Mayes said the additional funds allocated to Mulock Park are not taking away from any project on the horizon. He added that development charge rates are also adjusted annually, increasing based on the inflation of the non-residential construction price index.
The park project had two separate elements planned but not previously budgeted for, including adaptive reuse of the Mulock house. Part of the building is now set to be a site for the Art Gallery of Ontario. The $14.3 million allocated for the house includes the work to transform it as well as repairs to the building.
Another $3.2 million will go to create off-site parking on a hydro corridor, which was also previously planned.
“The house costs are in the range of expected cost for such a project,” Noehammer said. “This is a typical process for capital projects. As the design develops, we know more about what we are building and what it will cost.”
Noehammer added that staff did a comparative analysis on seven projects, which included the adaptive reuse of historic buildings since 2009. Inflation-adjusted, Noehammer said those projects have typically cost $700 to $1,300 per square foot, and the Mulock house reuse will be approximately $1,000 per square foot.
Town council will review updates to the Mulock park budget at its Feb. 13 special meeting, which will begin at 9 a.m. The municipality will stream it live at newmarket.ca/meetings, or you can attend at the town office on 395 Mulock Dr.
