Estevan’s Creighton Lodge is receiving some much-needed resurfacing on its west and north parking lots, after years of struggles with water retention and crumbling pavement.
Lodge manager Shelly Veroba said the project has been in the works for roughly five years, but the lodge wanted to wait to start the project until all the necessary funds were in place.
The construction will address issues that have been present in the Creighton Lodge parking lots since local rural municipalities took over the facility in 2010.
“We’ve had drainage problems with these areas since we took over the lodge. One of our major issues was that there was no drainage system at all and all the water would pool around the vehicles and we had seniors getting out of their vehicles into ankle deep water, so now we have a drainage system to ensure we don’t run into that problem anymore,” said Veroba.
“So some sections have been removed completely and they did a new base in the areas that needed it and asphalt was put in. We also put a new concrete slab in the area where we host our parties because the original concrete was put in around 1959 I believe.“
Construction on the lodge’s west-facing parking lot, which runs along Hillcrest Drive, will begin in roughly four weeks. Crews will be addressing cracks in the pavement that have become a tripping hazard for seniors, as well as addressing the curb running along the parking lot, making access much easier for vehicles.
The lodge’s south-facing parking lot does not receive the same volume of vehicular traffic as the other two parking lots, so it will not see as much work being done as the other lots.
“We actually had all the funds in place last year for these renovations but it ended up being too late in the year, so that’s why we pushed it to this year,” said Veroba.
“We were budgeted for $305,600, and we’re hoping to come in under budget, but that’s the estimated cost right now. Originally the project was supposed to last 30 days but because of the changes we’ve decided to make to the curbing in the front, our new completion date won't be until near the end of September.”
Creighton Lodge’s next major project will be repairs to their current roof.
“After this we will be looking at our five-year roof replacement plan. We do have some areas of concern that we’re looking at, and we’ll be doing the project in stages. We’ve been fairly lucky so far with avoiding leaks but there’s definitely some areas that need to be looked at,” said Veroba.
Creighton Lodge will also be hosting their annual barbecue, which usually happens in July, on Sept. 20. The change in date was made due to the current parking lot project extending past the initial deadline. The barbecue is open to all friends and family of the lodge.
