Like a cat or dog waiting to be adopted, the future of the city’s new animal shelter is on hold once again.
At the July 17th council meeting, Jeff Bray, the city’s director of parks, recreation and property management, advised members the tender bids have closed and they are considerably over budget. Bray added – quote – “I have been meeting with the architects and we’re looking at items that can be scaled back in terms of cost savings without affecting the functionality and size of the structure.”
He indicated he would get back to council with an update on construction cost of the shelter, to be located just east of the ball complex off Fairview Avenue.
A year ago, then-city engineer Justin Lawrence advised council the city had awarded the architectural proposal to a+LiNK Architecture of London, one of whose founding members is St. Thomas resident Ed van der Maarel.
“So, we’re off to the races,” noted Lawrence. “We’ve started the design as of today and we hope to get work heavily into the design for the next six months and we should tender around December or January.”
And he assured members, “Council has authorized the project, we have a budget, we have an architect started and the next thing you will see is the award of the construction contract.”
In April of last year, Sara Teare indicated her intention to donate $1 million toward the animal services centre.
She advised this would “help kick off the fundraising goals and bring this project closer to completion.”
If the name is not familiar, in November of 2018, David and Sara Teare contributed $500,000 to gain the naming rights to the 65-acre sports and recreation facility on Burwell Road.
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Written by: Ian McCallum
