More municipal funding will help get shovels in the ground sooner to build a new, expanded Children’s Treatment Centre in Chatham-Kent.
At their meeting Monday night, councillors approved an additional $1.6 million to cover increased construction costs for the facility.
Mayor Darrin Canniff says the total investment of $3.1 million is money well spent.
“The site they’re on right now, we own the land, they own the building,” Canniff explains. “We’re going to be giving them $3.1 million towards the new build, but we’re getting that building which is worth about $3-million.”
Canniff says the plan is to either repurpose the building or sell it to someone else, with the goal of creating more housing.
Mike Genge, Executive Director of the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation says they’re working with project manager Colliers International on a site plan.
“The site plan will probably take about a year to do all that, because they want to see a cycle of the seasons to make sure it’s alright,” Genge says. “From there, we’ll break ground in the spring, I believe, and then move forward in getting the build done. I think that will take 14-18 months to do.”
The province has committed to building the new facility, but recently told the Children’s Treatment Centre it needed more funding from the community to allow the project to move forward.
The treatment centre’s new 55,000 square foot building, which has been in the planning stages since 2017, will be located on McNaughton Avenue West in Chatham near Bear Line. Once completed, the new facility will provide additional space to reduce wait times for rehabilitation services such as speech therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and autism services.
The Children’s Treatment Centre of Chatham-Kent currently provides services to more than 3,500 children and youth with special needs.