Town council likely closer to selecting town hall site

By Jeff Helsdon

LJI Reporter

It’s likely Tillsonburg council is closer to selecting a site for a new town hall.

The word ‘likely’ should be used in connection with the matter, as a decision was made in a closed session resulting from a staff report outlining the costs and pros and cons of the three potential sites for the town hall.

CAO Kyle Pratt presented the report outlining the three sites with a recommendation that council select an option and proceed with a detailed design for the selected site. The three sites are the present customer service centre on Lisgar Avenue; what is referred to as the greyfield site, which is town-owned land at the corner of Harvey and Brock Streets; and the former Peavey Mart site at 121 Concession Street East. Each site had both a high and low-cost estimate.

The customer service centre at 10 Lisgar Ave would require the demolition of the current building. It has the highest costs with both low and high estimates of $10.9 and $12.4 million for a 19,745-square-foot building. Pros for this site included public familiarity with the site, the town owning the land, and high visibility. Cons for the site included high costs, an inefficient layout with a long and narrow property, temporary relocation costs, limited expansion potential, and limited parking.

The greyfield site has the lowest costs on both the high and low estimates at $7.4 million and $11.4 million for a square footage of 16,193. Construction costs for a new build were based on the costs of recent new town halls in Zorra Township and East Zorra-Tavistock with updates for inflation. This building would be two floors and would contain an elevator.

Pros of this site include efficiency, improved functionality, nearby parking, no renovations, the town already owns the land, and no interruption of business, and revenue for the sale of the customer service centre. Cons of the greyfield site include the cost of relocating utilities, the loss of 50 parking spaces, possible site remediation and an existing lease on the property. There is also room on the site to build a daycare if council decides to go in that direction.

The Concession Street site comes with a middle-of-the-road cost, ranging from a low of $9.4 million to a high of $12.8 million for the largest building, which is 20,000 square feet. These estimates included the $3.8 million list price to purchase the property. It also comes with the largest attached lot at 2.42 acres. Town staff assessed the building's condition as fair and noted that the roof is nearing the end of its lifespan, requiring replacement at a cost of $700,000.

Pros for the site included a rectangular design that would allow for efficiency, on-site parking, and future expansion possibilities. Cons are having to purchase the property at a price of $2.8 million, it’s not in the downtown core, extensive interior and exterior renovations and relocating the fibre internet.

“One of the things I want to note about Concession Street is when you take in the cost per square foot, the greyfield site is still the lowest on the low, but Concession Street is the lowest on the high end,” Pratt said, advising council to look not just at the cost but also the pros and cons.

Deputy Mayor Dave Beres, who originally suggested examining the Concession Street site, inquired about potential surprises associated with it and how it could be incorporated into the mix. Pratt answered that a conditional offer of sale could be used to that end.

Coun. Kelly Spencer noted the greyfield site was the only one marked high to achieve a carbon-neutral goal, and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has a grant that can pay up to $10 million towards sustainable buildings. She asked about the possibility of accessing these grants.

Director of Finance/Treasurer Renato Pullia explained there is a grant for a feasibility study, which is necessary to access the grant, and for up to 20 per cent of the cost of the building. He said the grant for studies is closed due to high demand, and FCM is looking to fund the most innovative and impactful initiatives.

“Not all eligible projects will be approved for funding,” he said. “We could go through all that work to meet eligibility and still not receive funding.”

Noting Concession Street isn’t in the core, but may be if the BIA boundary expansion goes ahead, Spencer asked if the bus goes there. She was told it goes down Tillson Ave, which is just a short walk away.

Since town council previously passed a motion that construction of the town hall couldn’t proceed until 50 per cent of the construction costs were raised through the sale of assets, she asked how the funds for the property purchase would be raised.

Development commissioner Cephas Panschow said this could be through the sale of the existing customer service centre. Pullia added it could be funded internally or through debt financing.

Beres asked which of the options would allow the quickest occupancy and was told 121 Concession would.

Coun. Pete Luciani expanded on Spencer’s point on the funds for the property purchase and was told some land sales were complete. Pullia said the $11 million upside cost for the town hall set by council was for construction costs and the property purchase could be dealt with differently.

Beres presented a motion, which was approved, that council move into a closed session to discuss possible property purchases, a normal procedure for matters involving real estate. The report coming out of that session was that council discussed the town hall project and provided direction to staff.