More digging will have to be done before any decisions are made about a proposed revitalization for the Downtown Chatham Centre.
The issue was a hot topic during Monday night’s council meeting with many councillors trying to wrap their heads around how the project will impact area residents and user groups.
An initial report suggested the overall cost of three-phase project was in the neighbourhood of $115-125-million dollars.
Most councillors agreed there are still too many questions to move forward with the project as is, but those questions should be answered through further due diligence.
South Kent Councillor Mary Clare Latimer says the recommended $2-million due diligence will be money well spent to determine how the municipality could move forward, with or without the private investors, especially when it comes to assets like the Civic Centre, Cultural Centre, and Chatham Library.
“I think this plan, this due diligence, enables us to address both public and employee security, accessibility, age friendliness, energy efficiency, spatialization, and public accommodation, all of which are current challenges and have been long-standing issues at all three of these municipal venues.”
Councillor Steve Pinsonneault believes regardless of the benefits to revitalizing downtown Chatham, the cost of the project is simply too high.
“There’s no possible way this community can afford $125-million, and unless somebody tells me there’s money coming from somewhere else, it’s not possible. Not even in stages. All the estimates you have right now, those numbers will be skewed next year due to inflation and climbing interest rates, that $125-million could increase tremendously.”
Ward Six Councillor Michael Bondy says with all the work that is needed, particularly at the Civic Centre, maintaining the status quo is no longer an option.
“We have a mall in the middle (of downtown Chatham) that is blockading any further success of our downtown,” Bondy says. “Would we not spend $2-million on consultants and investigative fees if we were to renovate the Civic Centre, Museum, and Cultural Centre? I think we probably would. We’ve got an opportunity, and the opportunity may never present itself again.”
108 submissions were received through the most recent public consultation process, but Bruce McAllister, Chatham-Kent’s General Manager of Community Development says the municipality is hoping to get more feedback in the upcoming due diligence.
Several councillors stressed Phase II of the project, which includes the arena and entertainment complex, should only go forward with additional sources of funding.
A motion to defer any further decisions to the next term of council failed 4-13. A motion to proceed with the $2-million dollar due diligence passed by a vote of 14-2.
A request for proposals (RFP) is expected to be issued in the next few days to find a third party to conduct further investigation into the proposal.
The investigative phase will include
- A certified appraisal and engineering report, where relevant, for the portions of the Downtown Chatham Centre property proposed to be transferred to the Municipality be obtained;
- A qualified and independent firm be retained through a Request for Proposal to lead further public consultation, feasibility and business case assessment, and the engineering and financial review outlined in this report with recommendations on final scope, value, and next steps reported to Council;
- The cost weighting in the Council-approved matrix for consultants be reduced from 30% to 10% in the above Request for Proposal in order to prioritize technical expertise and project schedule.
- External legal counsel be retained to initiate the legal negotiation of the terms of a development agreement and related legal matters with the Community Partners and that the terms of an agreement be subject to final approval by Council