South Bruce Peninsula Council is moving ahead with a plan to build a new town hall / recreation complex.
Mayor Janice Jackson says the existing town hall and the arena are aging, “It’s something that’s been on our radar for a while. Our town hall is failing and we’re looking at hundreds of thousands in just Band-Aid repairs, but on top of that we’re busting at the seams. Our staff, they just don’t have enough room and the building is not accessible.”
Council has selected about 25 acres of land at the top of the hill in the north end of Wiarton for the project.
+VG Architects made a presentation to council last week outlining three options for how the site would be set up. Council chose option C. +VG Architects recently designed the newly renovated Grey County Administration building.
The complex would include in the first phase, town hall, an arts and culture centre for youth and seniors, an outdoor gathering space, stage, and farmers market area as well as a possible splash pad. Jackson says that splash pad might be one that can be turned into a skating rink.
The estimated cost of this first phase is about $13.7 million.
Other phases could include an arena, swimming pool, pickleball courts, track and fitness facility. The total cost comes in at about $28 million.
Jackson says it would be paid for through debenture, as well as money that’s been held in reserve from the sale of the Wiarton Keppel International Airport and the new 4 per cent Municipal Accommodation Tax that takes effect January 1st, 2022, “Four dollars on 100 is not a big deal for our visitors, they pay it in many different tourist areas but to our community it will be a big deal, because we’re talking a awful lot of revenue for our town,” says Jackson.
Jackson adds, half of that revenue as mandated by the province, has to go back into promoting tourism, the other half goes to the municipality, and in this case, Council wants to use the other two per cent for recreation.
A financial report on the project is expected to come before council in the near future.
Jackson says if a new arena is built, the old one would be sold and the same goes for the town hall, “We would take of the funding from the sale of those properties and put it into the new hub.”
She says one of the next steps will be to launch a feasibility study with regard to the recreation facilities, explaining, “So that we get a really good idea from our community of what amenities are at the top of the list for them.”
Jackson says the study will also give them an idea of not just the capital cost of building rec facilities but also the operating cost and an outline of who would be using them, and which surrounding communities that might include.
She notes says the Town is also hoping to have Service Ontario and some portion of Service Canada move into the proposed administration building. “We’ve also had interest from daycare centres, physiotherapists…we’d really like it to be not only a place for our community to play, but also to look after all of their health needs as well.”
“We really want to bring some wonderful amenities and recreational opportunities to South Bruce Peninsula. It not only attracts newcomers, but it also attracts doctor recruitment, because of course, the doctors’s families are looking for amenities in any town that they’re relocating into and it’s just going to be a winning situation, I think for everybody.”
A 3-D rendering of the project is expected to come back to council in the next few weeks.
Jackson says the hope is to get a shovel in the ground by the fall of 2022.