Duane Hicks
The old Rainy Lake Hotel will start coming down Oct. 1.
A tentative schedule for demolition and removal of the derelict building was laid out during a pre-construction meeting with property owners and tenants of the 200 block of Scott Street on Monday evening at the Civic Centre.
JMX Contracting, which will be demolishing the vacant hotel, is on-site and will begin putting up fencing later this week.
Equipment will be mobilized in the next week, with actual demolition to start Oct. 1 and take until Nov. 11.
Backfilling of the hole will take place Nov. 9-17. Servicing work for the site, as well as for the building to the west of it, will be done Nov. 11-30.
The final completion date is Dec. 1.
The contract with the town indicates the contractor will suffer penalties if the job goes beyond that date.
This schedule is subject to change and, in fact, may take less time.
Jeff Norton, manager of operations for JMX Contracting of Gormley, Ont., estimated it will take about six weeks to complete, not two months.
Norton assured the small crowd on hand that the demolition job ahead is the type of work performed every day—and, in fact, is what JMX does every day.
“I’ll try to make this as painless as possible,” he remarked.
Work will be done from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m., although Norton indicated it’s likely the work will stop by 7 p.m. each day.
While there will be some noise, “I don’t think it’s going to put a lot of people out,” he noted.
“We won’t be breaking concrete for hours on end with three or four breakers.”
Norton also said nearly all of the demolition work will be done from the back of the building.
“There will be detail work, removals, from the front of the building where the structure is already failing,” he added.
This will mean the sidewalk in front of the vacant hotel will closed off. Adjacent buildings will be accessible at all times however.
But it is likely the 200 block of Scott Street will have to be closed to vehicular traffic at some point during the demolition.
Exactly when will be determined by the project’s structural engineer.
Norton said he’d just as soon not close the road at all or, if so, do it in stages and limit it to Sundays.
“It’s less aggravation for myself and the crew when there’s less traffic,” he reasoned.
“And it’s going to be less aggravation for the downtown merchants.”
Any temporary traffic control devices (i.e., signage, detours, etc.) will be done in accordance with Ministry of Transportations regulations.
Questions
One question asked Monday was if there was any hazardous materials in the building that would be released into the air during demolition.
“There’s nothing in the building that’s going to make me say, ‘Run away,’” noted Chief Building Official Travis Rob.
“Yes, there is some asbestos in it,” he noted. “Care will have to be taken for the demolition of that material.
“Asbestos, when it’s wet, is harmless,” Rob added.
“Dust suppression, for that reason, is going to be a crucial component to this project.”
“The operation we’re performing here is performed every day,” reiterated Norton. “It’s not something new.”
Pinchin Environmental will complete quality assurance and air quality monitoring during the demolition.
JMX will handle dust suppression throughout the job, accessing a fire hydrant.
Perimeter fencing will be erected around the site to ensure safety, and the site will be manned by security 24/7 once the building has been opened up.
What will happen to the remains of the old building was another question.
Norton replied the construction waste will go to the landfill, with the exception of some masonry work, salvageable timber, and ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
Rob estimated about 75 percent of the building will go to the landfill.
Norton added more materials could be recycled if the building was in better shape and could be demolished in a different manner.
“Given the state of the building and the adjacent buildings, as close as they are, it’s not practical for public safety to try and salvage and to recycle [more],” he stressed.
A pair of murals located on the inside of the building will be removed and sent off to be refurbished if possible, noted Rob.
No explosives will be used in the demolition.
Another question asked was why the demolition had to happen in the fall/early winter instead of the spring?
Rob explained that this is a time of year when contractors have gone through the summer rush and are looking for smaller jobs to do before winter.
Furthermore, there’s concerns there are portions of the front of the building already showing signs of instability, and its condition would worsen if it had to go through another freeze-thaw cycle, he added.
If the building is not demolished now, it’s likely the sidewalk in front of it would have to be closed for fear of portions of the facade falling off.
“The building’s state has gotten to a tipping point where we had to do something,” Rob stressed.
As with any project, Rob said weather could play a role but hopefully this is not the case.
The contractor is responsible for snow removal at the site.
When the job is completed at the end of November, the site will be left as a granular surface.
