The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo will be moving ahead with the Northside Leisure Centre, with the project continuing at the original scale. This does not mean that the municipality is not looking at ways to ease the cost concerns though. A council vote on Tuesday resulted in the recommendation to move ahead with the project, which was put on hold last fall to see if the scope and the total cost could be lowered in some way but the recent council vote has put the project back on track while still providing hope that cost savings can be achieved. According to Mayor Melissa Blake “We certainly expect the remainder of the project to be able to go to a greater level of design detail. When we do go out to the market for those tenders, we’ll get a better assurance that the cost is more complete.”

When asked about the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo plans for the Northside Centre Coun. Tyran Ault responded “We’re finding a right balance between moving this community forward with some ice that’s definitely needed while also taking a step back with the price of oil. If they’re not coming online, we need to adjust our long term growth projections … and that means delaying some projects, scaling them down. I think this definitely strikes the right balance in what we need to do.” Coun. Sheldon Germain stated “There’s a need for all areas The community has spoken up and said they’re 94% in favour of the project, and they’ve done a lot of consultation to pare it down and get the right facility.”