The City of Selkirk’s plans to spruce up its iconic water tower have been put on the back burner, for now.
The city had planned to start stripping and then repainting the 40-metre tall water tower this summer, but Mayor Larry Johannson now says the work has been postponed until next year as the city instead focuses on responding to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.
“We started setting money aside three years ago to start work this year. But sometimes you just have to play with the cards you’re dealt with,” Johannson said in a news release this week.
“But with just about everything this year, plans changed with COVID-19. While we’re disappointed our Water Tower won’t be getting the face lift it deserves this year, we know it’s the right decision.”
The city has budgeted $500,000 for the job, which had been scheduled to get started at the end of June.
The design for the tower’s face-lift was created by Robyn Kacperski, a Selkirk-raised graphic designer now living in Winnipeg, and uses the city’s brand elements around the top of the tower and includes the city’s logo painted on opposite sides around the widest area.
Kacperski’s design was chosen from more than 30 entries the city received after making a call for submissions for designs back in March.
‘This isn’t a fence we’re painting’
The tower — built in 1961 to replace a previous structure that was erected in the early 1900s — has a maximum capacity of 946,000 litres of water and was last painted in 1998.
Carlson Commercial and Industrial Services had since been hired to strip and repaint the water tower, but the city says after talking with industry professionals they decided holding off on the project would be the best decision “both feasibly and financially.”
“This isn’t a fence we’re painting. It’s a 135-foot tall water tower,” said Selkirk CAO Duane Nicol in the city’s release.
“It has to be stripped first in an environmentally controlled space to remove layers of paint, some of which may contain toxins. Then you need to repaint it under controlled conditions to ensure the paint adheres properly. There are a lot of factors that can delay progress like rain, temperature and wind. With the delayed start, we’re up against colder weather which would add significant costs to hoard and heat the project.
“Now that there’s more breathing room for both ourselves and the contractor, we have more confidence the end product will be done without any hiccoughs and on budget.”
The project is now slated to start next April.
Nicol had previously said the city wants to make visiting the water tower “more of an experience” and the city now says it’s looking at the possibility of adding a mural to the tower’s base next year as well.