By Jeff Helsdon
Tillsonburg council hit pause on a design for a town hall approved at the July meeting.
In July, council was presented with a change in the design for a plan approved last fall due to conflicts with a sanitary sewer line, concerns about soil stability and an update to the public portion of the design to meet accessibility standards. The approved plan, with a preliminary estimated cost of $18 million, would have resulted in tearing down the existing building at 10 Lisgar Ave. and building from the ground up. It was noted at the time there were estimated cost savings of up to 25 per cent that may have been found through the final process.
The issue was before council again at the Aug. 12 meeting with approval needed to spend $82,131 with architect VG+ for the additional costs associated with the design changes approved at the July meeting.
Deputy Mayor Dave Beres asked if another site was chosen if this money would be wasted.
Director of Operation and Development Jonathan Graham said another location would cause another scope change and require soil testing at that site. Further clarification from staff was if this motion was approved, council would be locked in but if it was defeated, it would provide opportunity to investigate other sites.
Mayor Deb Gilvesy, who raised concerns about the $420,000 that was spent on renovations to the building at 10 Lisgar Ave at the last meeting, questioned if this estimate included costs for temporarily relocating the customer service centre and if it included furnishings. She said besides the previously-examined option of locating a town hall on town-owned land on Harvey Street adjacent to the post office, there is another option to locate behind BMO. She also had questions about a large multi-use room in the design and potential for another 1,000 square-feet for future growth.
“I don’t know if we should be sitting here and accepting everything the architect is doing is correct without council weighing in on what we want to do,” she said, suggesting a committee can be set up to look at the design.
Coun. Pete Luciani, who was on a previous council committee that looked at building a new town hall, said all these rooms were in the pre-plan design for the addition.
“We have spent the last I-don’t-know-how-many-years going around in circles on something that every time we delay, it costs taxpayers money,” he said. “And this is costing taxpayers a lot of money. It’s very tough for me to sit and think we have to go through with this, but we have put ourselves in a position where we have to go through with it.”
He suggested the town hall needs to be built for the future, to ensure it’s done properly and moves forward.
Gilvesy asked if an appraisal had been done on the sale value of the customer service building, suggesting it could be sold and generate revenue towards construction costs at another site.
The mayor said she won’t support anything that results in tearing down the 10 Lisgar Ave building.
Luciani reminded council that the previous committee recommended the site on Harvey Street, which a prior council turned down. During the ensuing conversation, it came out there was some contamination found in the soil test holes at Harvey, but these were in the area where the parking lot would be. He did agree the best solution is a greenfield site.
Coun. Chris Parker said for him it’s not so much about tearing down the building, but the high cost with the proposal approved at the July meeting. He, along with Gilvesy and Coun. Chris Rosehart, voted against it. He noted the construction costs at $800 per square foot are nearly three times what other municipalities have paid.
“Yes, there’s an opportunity it could be less but when does that happen,” he said, adding he talked to someone who built a state-of-the-art building at a cost of $275 per square-foot.
Coun. Kelly Spencer agreed $800 per square-foot was ridiculous, adding she expected $500-$660 per square-foot. She wanted to know how much the customer service centre was worth, but asked there be a time line be attached to any investigations.
Luciani raised concerns that any deferral could set the timeline for construction “in turmoil”.
Further questioning by Gilvesy revealed the cost of furniture is not included in the previously-approved estimate.
Instead of approving the $82,131 expenditure, council passed a motion that the matter be referred to staff for a report that includes alternative location options, sale details for 10 Lisgar, and furnishing costs. All were in favour.
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