Innisfil council is delaying the adoption of its facilities master plan and space analysis to allow more time for public input and engagement with local non-profit organizations.
The item will return to council March 27, avoiding the March 13 meeting, which takes place during March Break.
Approval of the plan was set for the Feb. 28 meeting, but councillors agreed to postpone the move given some of the concerns already being raised by some of the recommendations proposed.
Two of those concerns were on display Feb. 28 via delegations representing potentially impacted user groups.
Myrlene Boken, president of Christmas for Kids All Year Round, said the master plan as drafted gives her pause.
“I do not think the town would lead us onto the sidewalk with nowhere to go, but the master plan does not really make us feel very secure,” she said.
For nearly two decades, Christmas for Kids — soon to be renamed Community for Kids — has been supporting impoverished children in the municipality. In recent years, the registered charity — one of only two front-line charities based in Innisfil — has been provided the basement of 19 Queen St. in Cookstown by the town for storage.
That building is recommended to be sold, under the proposed Facilities Master Plan and Space Analysis.
“It is the facility most in need of investment simply to maintain the current infrastructure,” the staff report on the matter stated. “This building needs significant investment to bring it back to an appropriate standard, including adding accessibility features, new roofing and other upgrades.”
Such repairs, estimated to cost nearly $181,575 over the next five years, would be “complex,” staff reported, due to the building’s heritage status. First built in 1947 as the Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, the building was more recently the home of the Cookstown Public Library.
Currently, Christmas for Kids and the Cookstown and District Chamber of Commerce utilize the building at no cost.
Demand for Christmas for Kids has doubled in the past five years, Boken said, and the storage space they currently utilize at 19 Queen is vital.
“We talk about the need to solidify our services and have more of a one-stop shop for people rather than having to go between Barrie and Innisfil, but those conversations always come to the slow, sad end that Innisfil doesn’t have a lot of space,” Boken said.
She used her previous professional experience as a consumer consultant to opine how the proposed plan lacks foresight, focusing on the current state and what to do with the facilities the town has in its inventory today.
“A master plan would cover three main areas: what you’ve got now, what you wish had now and then what you need in the future, based on plans and population growth,” Boken said.
“I feel this master plan only covers that first tiny bit,” suggesting that more user groups and residents — including those from outside the municipality that utilize the facilities — needed to be included in the research to get a true sense of what the town requires going forward.
Christmas for Kids also utilizes the lounge in the Stroud Innisfil Community Centre for distribution purposes each year. Also on that campus is the Stroud Curling Club, which has called that property home since 1975.
Stroud curlers were essential in getting the complex built in the first place, partnering with the town by investing more than $300,000 in its construction. But the recommendations in the master plan leave the curlers on rocky ground.
The centre is “used extensively and is costly to maintain,” the staff report stated, and “does not have sufficient community space and does not meet the needs of some users.”
“The study recommends that the Town develop a business case looking at the feasibility of replacing the (centre) with a new facility with the same uses and recommended enhancements on the same property,” staff indicated. A similar case study is recommended for the Morgan Russell Memorial Arena and Community Centre in Lefroy, and the two could be undertaken together.
The Facilities Master Plan and Space Analysis estimates repairs and renovations required in Stroud would run at $14 million, with replacement of the facility costing somewhere between $10.8 million and $32 million.
Curling club member Jason Tizzard spoke to council about the club’s unease with the recommendations, which echoed those shared by club president Carolyn Srigley Alksnis in an email to Village Media before the Feb. 28 council meeting.
They feel the cost to repair the current facility is “overvalued” and the low-end $10.8-million figure to build new is “undervalued,” as the club’s estimates for just the curling club potion of a new facility would be more than $7 million, based on replicating the same five-sheet rink, locker rooms, kitchen, bar and lounge.
The club has an international reputation, Srigley Alksnis wrote, bringing in players and tourists regularly, including this weekend, when it hosts the CurlON Ontario Elementary School Curling Championship. A week-long event is scheduled for November, with curlers from around the world coming to the community for an invitational bonspiel.
“Our concern is that we are not disrupted during any pending changes to the facility. With the uncertainty, we do not want the building to be a detriment to our continued growth,” she wrote. “The current Innisfil Council has indicated that they support what our club offers. It is imperative that we continue to have a home and a voice to the future plans of the building.”
The Facilities Master Plan and Space Analysis, the town’s first facilities-focused master plan, was first approved in the 2017 capital budget, but Colliers Project Leaders weren’t brought on to complete a review of existing information and make recommendations until November 2022.
The town also worked with Roth IAMS to look at spacing needs in the municipality, as it looked to plan for when the growth in the community would utilize all the existing space it has for office workers, crew staff and equipment storage.
That part of the report found that town hall has about seven more years before it reaches capacity if some reconfiguration is made in the near term. The operations centre, however, cannot accommodate further office staff growth and an extension is recommended. With no financial impact or timeline specified through the assessment, staff will need to present further options to council before any project can move forward.
“The master plan report primarily focuses on identifying where investments are needed, and in what priority order, to maintain the functionality of the town’s existing facilities. It seeks to help the town evolve from a reactive approach to facility maintenance towards a proactive approach,” the staff report stated. “The report, and the additional work by Roth IAMS, give some contemplation to where new or expanded facilities are needed to meet the town’s future growth needs and maintain service levels across a larger population.”
Other town facilities considered by the plan include:
- Innisfil Recreational Complex
- Salt and sand dome
- Churchill Community Centre
- Knock Community Centre
- Cookstown Theatre
- Rizzardo Health and Wellness Centre
To view the report, click here.
