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Tiny Township looking for new home for municipal offices

'We’ve ... outgrown this building quite drastically and we spent quite a bit of money just trying to keep it limping along and it’s counterproductive,' says councillor

Tiny Township is looking for a new home for its municipal office.

A building needs committee that is working on the project provided council with an update Monday. Council gave the green light to staff to begin rolling out communications around the potential new build or expansion of the current site.

“Back in the fall, we presented a report where we asked that council recommend the committee proceed with design build charter model, financing strategy, a communications strategy and methodology to select a site for the project,” said engineering manager Jean-Francois Robitaille, who updated council.

In addition to a communications strategy,  several pieces of municipally owned lands that could be home to the municipal building have been identified, said Robitaille.

According to the requirements short-listed by the committee, the site must be a minimum of 7,500 square metres (1.85 acres). This space would also allow for future expansions, he noted.

Tim Leitch, director of public works, said the municipal offices currently sit on a piece of land that is comparable to the selection criteria listed by the committee. At present, there is one main building, while the departments of public works, administration, water group, and recreation are housed in three onsite portables.

The land selected cannot be zoned as "environmentally protected" and it must be within or adjacent to a settlement area and be appropriately zoned as institutional or rural employment. 

The nine township-owned properties that fall under the above criteria include:

  • The current municipal office on Balm Beach Road;
  • St. Martyr's School lands/Perkinsfield Park;
  • The Wyevale Train Station Lands; 
  • Lafontaine Park; 
  • The Wyevale Fire Hall Site; 
  • Toanche Park -260 Concession 8E (Water Facility Site); 
  • The Public Works Complex Lands; and 
  • Huronia Airport (Partial Ownership) 

Deputy Mayor Steffen Walma wondered about including the public works complex because it has a gravel pit.

Robitaille said the site was nixed due to some shortfalls.

“We did consider it, but it’s not properly zoned,” he said. “When a gravel pit gets rehabilitated, it costs a bit of money and its zoning is changed to rural. For it to change to institutional, we would have to go to the county and it would involve a larger process.”

As well, Robitaille said, due to the added cost, procedures, and time required to purchase a site not owned by the township, the committee has decided the above sites should be considered first and foremost.

If, after proper evaluation, none of the above sites are deemed viable, a land purchase should be looked into, the committee noted.

The committee has come up with an evaluation matrix for the short-listed sites, which lists all the criteria for finalizing a property. All committee members will be evaluating each of the potential sites based on those criteria, scoring each from zero to 10. 

The criteria include ease of accessibility, central location, cost, ease of developing the site, room for future expansion, cost to run a fibre optic to the site, and desirable features, such as trees, a view of the waterfront, etc.

As for the communications strategy, Robitaille said, the clerks department has prepared a strategy, keeping in mind this is going to be of much interest to the public. 

“Staff propose to just have information to be shared internally and externally about why the project is needed and where we are with this,” he said. 

External communications will be done using a webpage on the township’s current website, said Robitaille. 

“A draft has already been prepared,” he said. “The page will include meeting minutes and project reports.” 

With council’s approval, Robitaille said, staff can make the page live in the next month or so.

"It will provide them with some of the rationale and justification of the need to evolve into a more modern facility that meets our needs," said Coun. Tony Mintoff, who is also chair of the building needs committe. 

"We’ve quite frankly outgrown this building quite drastically and we spent quite a bit of money just trying to keep it limping along and it’s counterproductive to do that." 

He said having to use portables made it difficult for staff working in those facilities.

"Quite frankly, in the middle of the winter time, if you want to use the washroom facility you have to put your coat on and boots on and trudge out," said Mintoff. 

There is a sense, he said, and past studies have shown that it would  probably be more cost effective and practical to build anew, rather than to renovate the building currently being used.

But there are still a lot of factors to consider, Mintoff said. 

"We are still considering things like what do we want to see in this new building, other than our operational needs," he said. "Do we want to put in a community centre? Do we want to put in some space for seniors or youth groups? Do we want to partner with private corporations with a commercial component that might have an anchor or a draw for other development in that area? We still have to think about all of that."