A grassroots petition is urging Chatham-Kent council to hit the brakes on a proposed $53-million Community Hub, with its creator warning the project could saddle homeowners with unnecessary debt and higher taxes.
Sheila Moir-Martin launched the petition earlier this month, calling on the municipality to instead renovate the existing Civic Centre — a move she argues would cost taxpayers significantly less.
“I’m doing this because I’m a homeowner and I can’t afford for my taxes to double,” she said. “We have a lot of other pressing needs... fix up what’s broken at the Civic Centre for a fraction of the cost so that money can be spent maintaining roads that are in neglect, maintaining services, maintaining arenas.”
The project, which council is set to vote on May 12, would relocate municipal offices, the Chatham branch library and the Chatham-Kent Museum to the former Sears building downtown, forming a central hub aimed at improving accessibility and consolidating services.
But Moir-Martin says the municipality should consider a more conservative approach, especially amid rising construction costs, citing a $17-million debenture referenced in municipal documents.
“Mayor Canniff has publicly said this would not cost taxpayers any money... but it’s very clear on the hub document that the municipality will borrow about $17 million at 4.5 per cent interest. I did the math — the cost is going to be about $9 million in interest over 20 years.”
She encouraged residents to attend the council meeting or submit deputations.
Mayor Darrin Canniff insists the project is fiscally responsible and future-focused.
“We’re in a very unique position now,” Canniff told CTV News. “So we can either spend the money here fixing this up and we create a new civic center, or we can go to the new hub project we’re proposing. Create a new library, new museum and a civic center. And it’s going to work out to basically the same price.”
He said the forthcoming report will lay out the numbers clearly.
“It’s going to be very clear when that report comes out that it’s a much better decision to do this, to create assets, the library and museum, for the next 50 years for our community. If we spend the money here (the Civic Centre), the taxpayer’s not going to see virtually any difference at all. Where over there, we’re going to create a new museum, library that’s going to be high tech. We’re looking at what Mississauga has put in their new library. We want that to be here in Chatham-Kent.”
Canniff said shared resources in a central hub will save money in the long run.
“There’s so many synergies to putting it there. There will be meeting rooms between the library, museum and the Civic Center. We can share meeting rooms, we can share security, we can share reception. All those things, and it’s all in one spot and we can create some activity downtown.”
He also addressed common concerns around tax increases.
“A couple of things that taxpayers are concerned with is that their taxes are going up. No, they’re not. We’ve been saving up for this. Whether we fix up the current civic center or do that, taxes aren’t changing. We saved up the money for that. People are saying, oh, it’s going to cost 80 million, 100 million. No, it’s going to be a fixed price contract. We will know the next council meeting we’re going to move to an RFP, and they will know exactly how much it’s going to cost us. And that’s going to be the point where we look and say, all right, people are ready to do this for this price.”
Canniff explained that contributions from donors, naming rights, and proceeds from building sales will help offset the cost. He continued that timing and economic factors also favour the new build.
“The beauty is, you couldn’t ask for a better time to be going to the marketplace for bid. There’s a lot of hungry contractors out there that would look at this job, and they’re going to sharpen their pencils. So we expect to get some pretty good pricing in as well given the softness of the contract market right now.”
He emphasized the long-term benefits while noting nothing is final until the bids come in.
“This is a critical aspect of us moving forward as a community.”
“It’s not a done deal yet and it’s not a done deal even if we approve that. Because if they come back significantly higher, the tenders, then we have to reconsider it. But my expectation is with the market and everything that we will get bids coming back that are less than what we anticipate.”
Canniff said retrofitting the Civic Centre would still require costly upgrades and wouldn’t meet today’s standards.
“The Civic Centre is 50 years old. And just like with your house and everything, everything is replaced. The whole HVAC system needs to be replaced. But when we start replacing the HVAC and everything, this does not have 2020 standards as far as accessibility, as far as safety. So when we do that, we’re going to put sprinkler systems for the whole system. We’re going to have to put new piping in. And when it comes to accessibility, this building does not come close to meeting current accessibility standards. We have to move the council chambers down to the main floor for accessibility. We have to enlarge the hallways. We have to enlarge the bathrooms. And you start doing this and get another floor on here to create the same space.”
Canniff encouraged the public to stay informed.
“There’s certainly a lot of misinformation out there about the project, and that’s why I encourage everybody to tune in May 12th to hear what the facts of this are.”
For Moir-Martin, the bottom line is about prudent spending.
“We’re at a do-or-die situation,” she said. “It comes down to what we can afford and what is going to be the result.”
