South Bruce Peninsula council is getting a look at plans for the new town hall Tuesday.
Architect GM Diemert is set to make a presentation at council’s regular meeting that includes a preliminary design for the council chambers and staff portion of the building.
The presentation will also show preliminary drawings of a modernized exterior and updated landscaping and parking.
The Town is planning to complete council chambers first and then later, reach out to the community to help determine what the other half of the building should be.
South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Jay Kirkland noted on the Open Line show on Bayshore Broadcasting’s AM 560 CFOS, January 28th, “I want to see a lot of glass, a lot of windows, but we have to be energy efficient,” adding, “What it costs to run this building is going to be ongoing forever, so we still have to be energy efficient, we have to make sure that things are affordable in the future.”
Kirkland says, “The building is going to be one thing, but being able to operate the building down the road is what you’ve got to look at. I think this is something that’s going to be easier to operate than our existing buildings because we’ll be closing at least two maybe in the future. One could be the Ross Whicher Centre plus our existing town hall.”
He explains, “If the library ends up being in town hall, the other portion that we don’t know about…these are things that are still open and not fully decided on. Then that would make the Ross Whicher Centre and excess building.”
Kirkland notes, there will be opportunities for community input before decisions on that half of the building are made.
South Bruce Peninsula purchased the former Sobeys Foodland site on the edge of Bluewater Park in 2024 for a new town hall location.
The current town hall is not as accessible as council would like and is aging beyond their desire to repair it.
The town plans to keep the steel structure of the old grocery store, and renovate it to suit the community’s needs.