The City of Dauphin has announced the construction of the Craft District, set for later this year, will be delayed until the start of 2027 because of widespread flood damages and impacts.
In a Facebook post, the City said flooding has created additional demands on municipal resources, and has affected both contractor availability and construction schedules.
Martijn van Luijn, Dauphin's Economic Development Manager, said the decision to delay the project was made after conversations with City officials and contractors.
"We decided after review that we are going to re-post [the Request for Proposals] in January for another fair bid process, but that falls much more in line with the construction seasons...we got feedback from the companies that are interested, and that are already working in our community, some of them have worked in the community, and they are all in the region, but they are all working on flood related stuff. There's many roads and bridges that have damage, and so there's just no time for them to even consider this, put a bid together, they're just way too busy," said van Luijn.
van Luijn also said moving the Request for Proposals to be more in-line with construction season means the City will get a much more competitive price, carrying a lower cost for the City. van Luijn wants to remind residents that the delay will not affect city taxes in any way, as the money is already budgeted, and set aside as part of the City's reserves.
"That doesn't really affect the budget or the regulatory, sort of rules around the budget. We can just leave the money there, and then we can use it next year...[reserves are] outside of what we call our regular or general budget, and the money is allocated for it," said van Luijn.
The Craft District is still a top priority for the City of Dauphin, and van Luijn said they still look forward to seeing the ways it will help improve the community.
