A big bite-sized piece: Council commits $15M for GTR community hub

An overhead shot of the Grand Trunk site. While council has not decided on the fate of the superstructure, it has committed $15 million to a shared facility between the Stratford Public Library and YMCA.

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After city clerk Tatiana Dafoe read out a long motion pertaining to Stratford’s keystone Grand Trunk renewal (GTR) project on April 27, Coun. Bonnie Henderson’s hand shot up from the far end of the horseshoe.

“Coun. Henderson after 19 years would gladly second it,” Henderson exasperated, as the room erupted in laughter and applause.

It was Henderson and Coun. Brad Beatty, who has been debating the GTR project as a councillor himself for 16 years, who ultimately put forward a motion which committed $15 million towards a shared community hub between the city, the Stratford Public Library and the YMCA of Three Rivers.

The renewal project has been on and off for decades, with various councils of the day attempting to move forward with a development plan that would transform the 18-acre site and superstructure on the southern edge of downtown. None have gotten so far as the commitment made on April 27.

As many councillors pointed out, the decision made that evening was very specific. It allocated $15 million toward the development, directed staff to formalize partnerships with the YMCA and the library through Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), to undertake the next phase of work on the hub (including design, governance, and funding models), to prepare a report on the parking at the site after the completion of a comprehensive downtown parking study being undertaken now and to begin a market sounding process to gauge private sector interest.

The passed motion did not commit to a location, scope or design for the shared community hub, nor did it close the door on other community groups becoming partners. Importantly, it did not decide the fate of the historic superstructure that once housed the Grand Trunk Railway’s locomotive repair shops  – that decision is still yet to come.

“This is a really large project,” Coun. Mark Hunter said. “There will be more pieces coming forward, some of them might be a decade or two away, but this isn't the entire project we're talking about. It's one segment. It's one segment that staff put work into, telling us that we can actually afford to do this. … I like this because it's a, I mean it's a big bite, but it's a bite-sized piece of the whole thing. It lets us get our heads around what we're trying to do.

“I don't recall us saying we wanted to tear the building down,” Hunter went on to say during a discussion of whether or not council has indicated a desire to demolish the superstructure. “In fact, I think the last discussions we had, everybody wanted to find a way to try and save it, if we can. We know it's likely going to be very expensive. The reports we got tonight talk about enclosing 100,000 square feet, put that number at $50 million and what we've got in front of us tonight is for ($15 million) and our (chief administrative officer) has said, as of now, that's kind of tapping us out. So it's going to be a bit of a struggle, but I think we'd all like to try and find a way to save it. That's what we've all been working on.”

The $15 million would combine with $10-$15 million coming from the YMCA, $4-$5 million from the library, $2-$10 million coming from development charges, $1.2 million from a grant for child care and $5-$8 million through fundraising, according to an earlier report presented during the GTR workshops.

If located outside of the superstructure, which would be more cost-effective, the community hub could cost between $47 and $65 million, depending on the size and location – though city officials said those figures are high level Class D estimates and are subject to change as the project gets closer to a plan.

There would still be a funding gap, as noted earlier, but that gap could be filled through additional partners, a smaller scope or more assistance through upper levels of government.

The city’s $15 million portion will be funded through an annual capital investment of about $1 million a year, which will go towards the community hub and the city’s wider assets. As explained by chief administrative officer (CAO) André Morin, staff worked to find a reasonable investment which considers this project and the city’s wider responsibilities – its roads, infrastructure and buildings. The investment is expected to impact the tax levy by one per cent a year and will be addressed during annual budget talks.

The decision was nearly unanimous. Only Coun. Cody Sebben opposed the motion. He attempted to include the Stratford Police Service as partners and to explicitly have the city’s climate change programs manager comment on the environmental side of the project in back-to-back amendments that got little support around the horseshoe – without which he said he could not support the motion.

“I’ll add my comments, with regards to how proud I am of the community, the CAO and staff with their work that brought us to this point tonight,” Mayor Martin Ritsma said after the vote and applause from the gallery. “We know that nothing moves forward without the preceding work, and nothing moves forward without direction, recommendations and financial commitments. So we have provided that to the CAO and staff. They will go away and continue their work that they have done so well in this last little while, and we will build on that work from staff and community, and we will move forward.”

For more information, read the over 300-page report at https://tinyurl.com/5e4k8wju.