GUELPH — Amid questions about the cost of the project, the new Erin library is heading to tender.
A former grist mill in Erin is being converted to the new library with preliminary cost estimate set at $8 million, which includes the purchase of the land. The county will no more exact figures once the tenders come in.
On Thursday, county council heard Paul Sapounzi, managing partner of +VG Architects, explain the plan for the redevelopment of the building.
After a discussion, council approved Sapounzi’s presentation and the project will now go to tender.
Coun. Earl Campbell suggested a careful approach to going to tender and seeing what more affordable options are available.
“You made reference to the fourth level being a low-cost solution. Several of my peers around the table approached me as a member of the building committee, saying what’s that really going to costs us?” Campbell said.
The fourth floor was designed to be both low cost, with dormers and a terrace over looking the area and plenty of space to read.
Campbell put forward the idea that council investigate what the true cost of the top floor will be.
“But my suggestion is that maybe when we put this to tender, that we tender that fourth floor as the option presented and as just a straight roof to see what that is really going to cost,” Campbell said.
A few minutes later, Coun. Doug Breen, spoke up, telling council not to forget how important this library can be.
“There are a limited number of opportunities in your life to do things that are truly awesome. And this is one of those,” Breen said.
Breen made reference to the duller moments of life on council.
“And we do a lot of things at the county level that many would see as mundane, police services contracts and it’s roads and bridges, all of those things are crucial and really our core business.
“There are very, very few opportunities that we have where we can really do something that is really truly awesome,” Breen said.
Breen acknowledged the option to keep building design simple.
“And I can understand that even around this horseshoe and in the public, there are people who would never have built the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. And there are people who never would have built Queen’s Park. Who would have been perfectly happy to set up the whole thing in a strip mall some place and make a utilitarian office space.
“I understand both of those opinions and I could really make you a great argument, if I wanted to, why both of those opinions are valid and why both of those are right,” Breen said.
Then Breen explained that this project, if done very well, will leave a mark on the social fabric of the area.
“But I think this is one of those moments where you can do something that’s truly awesome. Something that people will be proud of in the community. People will think that we can be proud of as a county. Things that people will talk about generations from now and say, thank God we built that thing.”
Jesse Gault is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
