Council approves new floor for archery range

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In 2024, the leaseholder group for the Taber Archery Range contacted the Town’s facilities management department to discuss the current condition of the indoor floor at the archery range. The range leaseholders advised that the surface treatment on the original concrete floor slab had lost bonding to the concrete over time, resulting in large patches of exposed concrete floor mixed with patches of floor surface treatment.

 On Jan. 27, Coun. Sorensen moved that council direct administration to investigate the condition of the flooring. Upon examination, Town staff discovered the cause of the concrete floor surface treatment deterioration: groundwater migrating vertically through the concrete floor, which deteriorated the finish.

 Staff noted an existing double sump system in the mechanical room adjacent to the archery floor and made modifications and repairs to the system that resulted in less water permeating through the concrete floor slab. However, the Town still went ahead and contacted a local concrete flooring specialist to explore further options for the range floor.

 A vapour test confirmed that a VRM epoxy-based flooring system would be suitable in preventing future water from permeating to the top surface of the concrete floor. After examining other options, the VRM epoxy-based floor treatment was brought forward for inclusion in the 2025 capital projects budget. It was listed as a Priority 2 project but was removed from consideration due to higher priorities.

 At the Feb. 10 meeting of town council, Chris Eagan, director of planning, engineering and operations, told council that a contractor was willing to apply the epoxy and warranty the job. He said the problem is mostly cosmetic rather than structural.

 Given the option to defer the cost of improvement to a future year and leave the archery club using a substandard concrete floor, council voted and unanimously approved a $35,000 replacement project funded from capital reserves.