Cost of SWOX municipal building rises to $11 million

Debbie Kasman, Tillsonburg Post Correspondent

At its regular council meeting on May 20, South West Oxford Township (SWOX) council considered a revised concept design completed by Corby Kirwin, a civil engineering technologist, for its new municipal office, child care and library building located west of Highway 19 on Mount Elgin Road.

The original concept design, considered by council in December, included a child-care facility on the first floor, a municipal office on the second floor, and allowed for other uses on a possible third floor, which included a potential new space for the public library and/or affordable housing and/or apartments for seniors.

The square footage of the two-story building was 15,200 square-feet with an additional 7,600 square-feet on the potential third floor. The cost for the two-story building was $6.84 million at the time.

The current concept design now reflects revisions for a 3-½ story building, which would add 1½ floors to the building, giving level access on the north side, but the level access would be half a story below grade and serve as a vestibule for an elevator with stairs to the second and third floors.

A daycare would be located on the ground floor at the back of the building, providing ground level access and five different rooms for a total of 88 daycare spaces. Access to and from the daycare would be provided off the south side of the building where there would also be direct access to two distinct playground areas – one for senior children and one for junior children on the south east and south west corners of the building.

There would be a daycare drive and parking area in the back for parent drop offs and pick-ups. In order to provide a playground area that is larger than the minimum standard in the design, some parking spaces may need to be given up at the back of the building or the building would need to be shifted to the north.

The second floor of the building would house the township office with up to 25 fixed positions for township staff and a variety of private offices and flexible workspaces in the open. The staff lunchroom was moved to the back of the second floor design for more aesthetic site lines during lunch as requested by staff. Vault and mechanical/electrical rooms would be in the centre space because these don’t require windows. The design of the second floor would allow for natural lighting from windows and an open space upon entrance.

The third floor would contain the new council chambers and a new larger library, with future expansion space for the township office. The council chamber would be similar to the footprint at the Zorra Township office, but the Mount Elgin design would have an expansion room to the north in order to accommodate larger crowds during council meetings by taking a partition wall down. This expansion room could also function as a community room and/or an emergency operations centre if required.

The library would be located on the south side of the third floor and would contain a wide-open space with a central area for the librarian to work at. Common washrooms for the library and council chambers would be in the lobby of the third floor.

The next step for the township is to work through façade details, architectural colours and materials with an architect. More information about these options will be known after bringing in an architect to assist. The exterior of the building could possibly reflect the heritage of the property if council desires.

Until a contractor is hired, the estimate continues to be $450 per square-foot and the new 24,636 square-foot 3-½ level design would cost $11.086 million dollars. This does not include contingency, tariffs, information technology, security systems, furniture, appliances or HST. This is an increase of $4.25 million dollars from the original two-story design.

According to Mayor Mayberry, who sits on the Oxford County Library Board, the library board may end up recommending 4,000 to 5,000 square feet for the Mount Elgin library instead of the current 2,500 square foot design. If the library board deems the Mount Elgin library to be a regional library, it will require a larger space, and that designation is a possibility. Council chambers may need to be a dual-purpose space to accommodate the extra space for the library.

Several councillors expressed concern at the extremely high cost of the revised plan and no decisions have been made about moving forward, but on June 3 council did authorize staff to continue the professional engineering services of SPH Engineering Inc., for the project's conceptual design, including the review of the plans by an architect at an estimated cost of $13,500 plus HST.

The architect will work collaboratively with SPH Engineering to finalize the detailed building design, incorporating the council’s direction on function, size, aesthetics, and cost, including generating a basic set of renderings with the possibility of façade compliments to the former Elgin Hall building originally located on the property.

This cost does not include preparing a tender package for a design build contract by local general contractors, which would occur during the next phase.

In a related matter, Ron Koudys Landscape Architects have been hired to work with staff on the development of the new park west of Highway 19. The kick-off meeting took place on April 8 and public consultation is anticipated for June 2025.