City politicians push ahead with plan for new city hall, in the same spot

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Should we stay or should we go? That was the question on city politicians’ minds Tuesday night as they debated the future of London city hall.

To cap off a marathon nine-hour meeting of council’s strategic priorities and policy committee, politicians voted to endorse kick-starting a procurement process to redevelop the so-called city hall campus – city hall at 300 Dufferin Ave., an apartment building to its north, Reg Cooper Square and Centennial Hall.

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The plan is to replace the 53-year-old city hall building, creating extra room for staff as London grows, but also to bring all city employees now scattered around the city under one roof, saving taxpayers $3 million annually. It would also include a residential development, which drew politicians’ interest.

“I think residential is really going to make the difference,” said Ward 1 Coun. Hadleigh McAlister, in reference to the project contributing to downtown revitalization. “I still view this as part of the core, Victoria Park is central to that.”

Politicians were also mulling a proposal from Farhi Holdings Corp., downtown’s biggest landlord, offering Market Tower at the Dundas-Richmond streets intersection along with the adjacent buildings to its south as a potential location for a new city hall.

Ward 4 Coun. Susan Stevenson suggested weighing the economic impacts between the current campus and the offer, prompting council to move into an hour-long closed session to discuss it.

“A lot of people are very concerned about our downtown, and we hadn’t hit the property taxpayer with (an 8.7 per cent tax hike) this year and (8.7 per cent) next year,” she said. “This gets to be a little bit of a sales job for us to make this kind of investment in city hall.”

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Stevenson suggested referring the decision to another debate in one month, allowing more time for public input. But several colleagues argued the process of finding a private-sector partner would let the wider community weigh in anyway, and they were opposed to further delaying a project in the works for more than a decade already.

Coun. David Ferreira, who represents downtown, took it a step further, reading a passage from the book “Downtown London: Layers of Time,” which has an entire chapter dedicated to London’s several city hall moves.

“Chapter Two is entirely on the history of council not being able to decide where to put city hall, since the beginning of the city,” he said. “I don’t want to repeat history again . . . the city needs us to be decisive.”

Politicians ultimately decided to consult with its outside boards and commissions, such as London Public Library and London Transit, about whether they’d be interested in sharing any new space.

According to city treasurer Anna Lisa Barbon, city staff want to launch the bid process for private firms to get involved in the redevelopment of the city hall campus in early 2025, once the plan gets final, formal council approval on June 25.

City council has already earmarked $125 million for the new city hall, money that was approved during the 2020-23 multi-year budget.

jmoulton@postmedia.com

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