Municipality of Yarmouth to proceed with controversial new building plans

By Michael Gorman

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

The Municipality of Yarmouth will proceed with plans to build a much debated and much-talked-about new office building at the site of the former Hebron School.

Council voted 4-2 at last Wednesday night's regular meeting to accept the lowest tender of $4.89 million from Delmar Construction, the only local firm to bid on the project. With the motion to approve was an instruction to the project architect to keep the cost of the project at or below $4.5 million before taxes. The highest of three tenders received for the project was $6 million from Pomerleau Construction.

Councillors Ken Crosby and Gilles Robichaud, the two councillors who voted against the motion, both said the project was too expensive to support and that not enough research was put into other possible project sites or options.

Robichaud suggested that rather than using the Hebron site, the new building could be located in the municipality's industrial park. He said it would serve as good advertising to prospective businesses if they see that the municipality feels good enough about the park to locate there themselves. He also said the cost of water hook-up and architect fees should be included in the project cost.

At the end of the day, said Robichaud, due diligence was not done on the project because a full study and proper review was never completed.

For Crosby's part, the price tag was just too high. He said he was not prepared to go beyond the initial project figure of $2.5- $3 million. He said he is yet to be convinced that a high-quality building could not be constructed for that figure. "We've done no exploring and we're sitting here with a price tag of $4.8 million," he said. Crosby was also concerned that, while at the moment council is in a position to handle the cost of the project, there could come a time when things might get tight financially and such a cost could become a burden. "Let's not put all our eggs in one basket," he said.

But as the vote shows, the opinions of Crosby and Robichaud were those of the minority and not shared by Warden Bryan Smith, Deputy Warden Brian Noble and councillors Leland Anthony and Daniel Muise. Councillor Staley Goodwin did not attend the meeting.

Noble, the most vocal supporter of the project from day one, said that while he "laboured with this decision," he always returned to the Hebron site as the best plan. "I want something that the residents would be proud of, that our council would be proud of," he said. "The cost is high — I accept that . . . Any new building today is going to be expensive."

Noble also expressed concern that if the building were to go in the industrial park, they would not be able to control what other businesses might set up around them. The deputy warden worried that something like a sawmill or cement plant could set up shop next to their office in the 75-acre business park that already includes Register.com and CSC.

Leland Anthony said that while the price of the project is higher than his self-imposed limit of $3.6- $3.8 million, he said the municipality would reap the benefits of the extra $1 million. "The price tag is well worth the bucks that this municipality will have to spend to build it," he said.

Anthony said the new building, which he called "a show-stopper," is forward thinking and would be relevant well into the future.

The future also played into Smith's decision to support the project. "You can be progressive, regressive or stay the same," he said, adding that with this project they are building for 20 years down the road.

Smith said that while he did consider the industrial park as a possible alternate location, the project architect talked him out of it. He said a lack of security in the park as well as the issue of forcing residents to contend with traffic there when they go to the municipal office to conduct business, doesn't make for a good location.

When council discussed the building at their last meeting, Muise was the most uncertain about how he would vote, saying that he would wait to see the final tender before making his decision.

Though he said the price was high, he said supporting the project was the right move. He said as he trusted the people he elected to make decisions on buildings such as the new justice centre, correctional facility and school board office, residents of the municipality must trust their councillors to make this decision for them. "People are elected to make these hard decisions," he said. "Waiting longer (to build the new office) is going to cost more."

Staff for the municipality said the building would be paid for over 30 years and would not have an impact on the tax rate or the municipality's ability to undertake other capital projects on an annual basis. The future sale of the courthouse could also be used to help pay for the project.