A new town hall for Bradford West Gwillimbury is one step closer to becoming reality.
During the May 16 meeting, committee-of-the-whole recommended moving forward with issuing requests for proposals to prepare a town hall development plan.
The town hall will be the cornerstone of the redevelopment of 125 Simcoe Rd., currently the home of the Bradford and District Memorial Community Centre and the Bradford Curling Club. The entire campus has been a hub for the town for decades, housing various outdoor recreation facilities and the town’s Canada Day celebrations.
“It’s a step forward in planning and programming of the facility, both in respect to the scale and scope of the building, but also in how it would be delivered,” said town CAO Geoff McKnight. “This is all a long time coming. There’s been a lot of planning in advance of this report.”
Town council first endorsed a Community Centre Revitalization Master Plan in 2018 that showcased a broad redevelopment of the town lands, including new public spaces, community facilities, affordable housing and outdoor recreational activities. Included in that plan was a “civic hub” along the western edge of the property facing Simcoe Road, to house municipal offices, council chambers, a performing arts venue and multi-purpose rooms.
A request for federal infrastructure funding to help pay for the redevelopment of the community centre land was unsuccessful and sent staff back to the drawing board to pare down the concept into something easier for the town to fund on its own. With the $107.8 million proposal as a guide, staff came back with three options costing between $42.3 million and $66.2 million.
When council was first presented with those options – plus the potential to either refurbish or demolish the existing community centre – there were mixed emotions around the table, with concerns equally spread around the price tag and the loss of the arena where so many in town had learned to skate.
But the process kept moving, and implementing the Community Centre Revitalization Master Plan is listed as an objective in the town’s strategic priorities for this term, under the downtown and urban renewal section. The Strategic Projects Advisory Committee has also been discussing the matter and the resolution it passed formed the basis of the committee-of-the-whole recommendation at the May 16 council meeting.
“We’ve talked about this for a decade of discussion and in the last year really I think people have started to see that there’s an element of progress being made,” said Coun. Jonathan Scott.
That includes the re-zoning of the subject lands and the purchase of all necessary properties surrounding 125 Simcoe Rd., including the homes the town began to demolish in the past few weeks. As well, construction is well underway on the affordable housing project that is included in the master plan, under the purview of the County of Simcoe.
What’s also occurred is that all members of council seem to be aligned on the need for the new town hall facility, including those newly elected members who might have failed to see its importance prior to beginning their public service.
“When I first came onto council, inherently, I wasn’t really excited about a town hall, mostly because I didn’t think it was necessary,” said Coun. Nicholas Harper. “But looking at the size and seeing the inner workings of how much we rent… and seeing the confusion that it does create in regard to our staff situated all throughout Bradford, and then in comparison to the municipalities surrounding us that already do have town halls, it’s exciting that this is actually an opportunity I’ll be part of.”
Currently, town offices are spread across the municipality with various locations in Bradford, and one in the former West Gwillimbury Township. In one central location, people will be better able to meet with councillors and staff, moving the business of the municipality forward with greater ease, which particularly appealed to Harper, who admitted it’s difficult to meet with businesses currently given there isn’t one central office.
It’s hoped that the greater capital costs brought on by owning and operating a town hall will be offset through the efficiencies of no longer having to pay rent or by renting out additional space to other public-facing services, as suggested by Coun. Peter Dykie.
There’s also a benefit to the downtown that exited Scott.
“Having our staff and our town hall as an anchor tenant in our downtown is good for all our downtown businesses,” he said. “People need a place to have lunch, to have meetings, to go shopping after work.”
McKnight warned that the town is “still some time away” from having a three-dimensional model of what the town hall will look like, following a question from Coun. Cheraldean Duhaney. Before then, the needs for the facility need to be finalized, while evaluating the different approaches and techniques available to deliver the project.
Once a detailed design is completed, McKnight said the contract for construction could go to tender in late 2024.
