Future replacement of Town Hall building

A longstanding item on the Town’s Strategic Plan has been to plan for the replacement of Town Hall.

Sidney’s Town Hall was constructed in 1964. As the building ages and standards evolve, it is no longer meeting some important public and employee needs.

Key building challenges include:

Accessibility:

• Much of the building is inaccessible to staff with mobility limitations.
• Stakeholders and members of the public with mobility limitations who come to Town Hall for meetings must leave the building after checking in and access a meeting room through a rear external door. A larger meeting room used to host various citizen committee meetings is not accessible.

Building Condition:

• The Town Hall building is becoming increasingly expensive to maintain as it ages. For example:
  • Town Hall’s heating system will soon need to be fully replaced as the heating pipes are beginning to leak and the boiler is due for replacement. Based on a professional quote, replacing the heating system is estimated to cost within $250,000 and $450,0000 as much of the building’s drywall and ceiling would need to be removed in this process.
  • The building’s electrical system has been upgraded to reduce risk but cannot support additional electrical load, such as a new electric heating system.
  • Perimeter drainage around Town Hall will soon need to be replaced. At this time, Sidney Archives, which are in the basement of Town Hall, is vulnerable to flooding.
• A renovation of this scale would cost several million dollars, and is likely not achievable without a temporary and disruptive relocation of Town services.

Inefficient Use of Civic Site

• The downtown block that is home to Town Hall, Driver Services and the Courthouse could serve the community in additional ways if the space was better utilized. Replacing the aging buildings that provide municipal services could potentially lead to more usable public space and more housing supply.

Space Constraints:

• Council Chambers are too small to accommodate large groups of people who attend Council meetings when topics of high public interest are on the agenda.

At this time, staff are looking into options to replace Town Hall and the municipal buildings on this site in the future. Any plans for Town Hall and the surrounding site would involve extensive public engagement.