GTR committee supports building community hub outside of old shops

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

John Kastner, the former general manager of the Stratford Perth Museum, called the decision the ad hoc Grand Trunk renewal (GTR) committee made at its June 16 meeting an important one for the Festival City.

“I’m a student of history, a student of Stratford’s history,” Kastner said. “I think this is a historic day, in lots of ways.”

Kastner made that comment ahead of the GTR committee recommending that the proposed new community hub, long thought to be built within the old shops “superstructure,” be built outside the structure.

The committee had a lengthy discussion on the various options ahead of making that decision, largely informed by the fiscal reality of the project. At the May 20 meeting, Joe Svec and Rock Wang, consultants working with the city, presented two “bookends” for a community hub which costed between $43 million and $126 million, with the cheaper option to locate the community hub outside of the superstructure.

When it came to whether or not to include the community hub within the superstructure, most committee members were in agreement that it was more appropriate to build it outside. The bulk of their debate was on what then to do with the superstructure.

Svec presented an option to demolish a portion of the building to build housing and/or parking, and to create an open-air indoor park in the remainder of the building. That scenario would present a myriad of options for what to include within, whether it be green spaces, theatre stages, walking paths, skating rinks, or anything else that council, the community or a developer deems a priority.

As Svec and other committee members said and argued, the western portion of the building was damaged in a fire and it’s been long believed that at least that portion of the building will be demolished due to the damage. What will be done with the remaining two-thirds of the building will be further explored if council directs Svec and Wang to pursue options.

Svec further said that the community hub, which includes all assets that the committee wants included (such as a new library and community group spaces), could be located in either the current YMCA building with an expansive renovation, or that the community hub and a new Y building be built on another parcel of the 18-acre site, such as a portion of the municipal Cooper Parking Lot.

He further said that his job at this stage of the project was to present real options, not to endorse one option over another. He repeatedly said that council will be the entity that makes the final decision.   

Mike Ennis, CEO of YMCA of Three Rivers, was in attendance at that meeting. He told the committee that the Y is a willing partner with the city and willing to explore options; however, he clarified that the Y owns the land its current building sits atop of and they have a board of directors and partners that will have input, meaning it isn’t so simple for him to tell the committee the Y’s preference either way.

After a debate on wording, the committee finally passed the motion to recommend locating the community hub outside of the superstructure and to explore the continuum of options that Svec Group presented, and to preserve as much of the superstructure as feasible.

Committee member Paul Parlee was the lone holdout, opposing the motion. He later told the Times that he supported the motion in principle but wanted stronger language to preserve the superstructure.

He wasn’t the only Stratford citizen wanting to preserve the structure. Leslie Walker-Fitzpatrick gave an impassioned delegation, asking for the committee to preserve the structure. As she said, the building housed the lifeblood of not only Stratford, but of Canada as it stretched from sea to sea by rail. Although it may be more economical to demolish it, value had to be placed in its cultural and historical significance and that the building deserved adaptive reuse rather than demolition.

“This is a plea – not for amputation, not for erasure – but bold, full-steam ahead, to create a hub, a community hub,” Walker-Fitzpatrick said.

The Grand Trunk renewal project is more than just the community hub and superstructure, however. The project means to transform the downtown site with community assets, parking, parks and – crucially – housing.

As Adam Betteridge, interim chief administrative officer (CAO) with the city, said, should council decide to maintain the superstructure, it will need some tender love and care for the sake of the project’s whole viability.

“We’re going to have to spruce it up so it doesn’t look like the dilapidated eyesore as it is now,” Betteridge said, pointing to an overhead presentation with a portion of the project site devoted to housing highlighted in blue. “Because we’re going to have a lot of trouble selling that area in blue … if this community wants to see the two-thirds kept, we're going to have to put some money into making the building look a lot better than the way it is right now, because we all know what it looks like, and we all know what the developers are not going to want to do: build next to it the way it is.”

The GTR committee is an advisory body for city council, which retains ultimate control for the project’s vision. The committee’s recommendation will be before council on July 14, when it will decide to support the recommendation or move in a different direction.