“I’m extremely relieved about this piece of news,” Mayor Peter Trent told The Examiner this week. “It was worrying me having to deliver that project in such a short space of time. Even in private industry that would be quite an accomplishment.

Trent said the original deadline for completion, in March 2011, would have been virtually impossible to meet. Westmount now has until March 2015.

“In a public situation, it’s even more difficult to deliver a project effectively in 18 months. It gives us two things: it gives us time to do the project properly; secondly it gives us time to take a look at where we’re going before we begin.”

The estimated cost of the project is $30 million, when underground parking and environmental certification are factored in. The Quebec/Canada grant is paying for two-thirds. Taking place over two years, the project will include two rinks, an enlarged swimming pool area, a teen centre, a community café, a multipurpose room and other facilities.

When concerns were expressed over the past year by some Westmounters that the City was moving ahead too quickly with the project, former mayor Karin Marks had said there was fierce competition among municipalities for infrastructure grant money and the deadline was short for using it.

“Under the new council and under the new mayor, we’re certainly going to take a look at the entire project,” said Trent. “We know that $20 million will be available to us, but as for the overall budget it’s still a bit up in the air. But when the new council meets and we decide which direction we’re going to go in, we are going to look at this project from all sides and review everything that’s been done.

“So it’s extremely unlikely that we’re going to go ahead with a project that is the same as the current one that’s been made public. Obviously we would not make any changes that would jeopardize the $20 million. It is my understanding that we can make changes, as long as we can get approval from the provincial government.”