Work on the Baker County YMCA’s new gymnasium should resume soon, but a delay could push back the opening of the facility until early June.

The original goal was to unveil the 8,400-square-foot building, just south of the YMCA’s fitness center at 3715 Pocahontas Road, near D&B Supply, around early April, said Koby Myer, the Y’s CEO.

Myer said the major factor in the delay was hiring a registered design professional to oversee the project.

“We’re definitely not on the schedule that we should have been,” Myer said on Monday, Feb. 3.

Dawn Kitzmiller, Baker City building official, said Oregon law requires a design professional for commercial buildings larger than 4,000 square feet.

Myer said the design professional the Y hired in the fall was not able to do the work.

The Y ended up hiring Columbia Engineering Group of Washougal, Washington, a firm that employs architects and engineers.

“They’ve been awesome,” Myer said of the firm.

The city’s building inspectors also raised a concern about the vapor barrier that building codes require for the building’s concrete slab, which was poured in late October, Kitzmiller said.

She said she has approved an alternative method, applying a vapor barrier sealant to the concrete.

Myer said the dispute about the slab was “frustrating” but he doesn’t believe that had much if any effect on the construction delay.

Hiring a new design professional was the primary cause, he said.

Myer, who said he has talked with Kitzmiller as well as City Manager Barry Murphy, said he believes city officials support the project.

“I feel like they see the need for this building and want to see this happen,” he said.

That’s definitely the case, Kitzmiller said on Monday.

“We love this project for the community,” she said. “I’m sure they’re going to get there.”

W. Harvey General Contracting LLC of Baker City is the general contractor for the Y gym.

Owner Bill Harvey Jr. said on Monday that he was frustrated at times by the building department, particularly the vapor barrier requirement.

He said that wasn’t a requirement in many of his previous buildings, but the state building codes added the requirement.

Kitzmiller said the vapor barrier has been required, for buildings such as the YMCA gym, for well over a decade.

Harvey said his crew for the Y project has been laid off since late fall, but they have been maintaining the construction site to ensure they’re ready to resume work.

“When I get the call my guys will be there in 15 minutes,” Harvey said.

Myer said on Monday that he expected to submit an updated plan to the building department this week.

The building is a pre-engineered steel structure, and the rest of the construction is “pretty straightforward,” he said.

“We’re very, very close to putting up walls,” Myer said.

About the new gym

Also called the Family Center, the new space will include a full-size basketball court, bathrooms, concessions, bleachers to seat 275, and a balcony area for additional programs.

The court will have lines for basketball, volleyball and pickleball, Myer said in an interview last fall.

“Our goal is to make this available seven days a week for families and the community,” he said. “There are endless possibilities.”

Project cost so far, which includes the new expanded parking lot, is $450,000, which includes grants, donations and community partnerships.

The Y has rented a gym beside St. Francis de Sales Cathedral for years. Myer said that once the new gym is open, the Y will shift programs to the new space.