St. Thomas City Council has voted in favour of using the St. Catharine Street parking lot area as the location for the child care facility initially intended to be located at 230 Talbot Street. This decision comes after council learned in early June that construction costs associated with the combined child care facility and 24 housing units in the original plan were rising.
Staff began looking into the possibility of a stand alone child care facility in order to stay on pace with the December 2020 completion date that was contingent for the $2.6 million of Provincial funding for the project.
Staff recommended the parking lot at 25 St. Catharine Street at Curtis Street near the former police station to keep the facility in the downtown.
City Manager Wendell Graves says that with the new location of the child care facility, they are now planning on having a higher density residential building at 230 Talbot.
The plan is to use the existing floor plan for the 88 child space facility that the Ministry has already approved. Staff have received some initial approval from the Ministry on the relocation however final Ministry approval has not yet been received.
The zoning on the property does permit a day care and early soil tests would permit day use. A detailed cost estimate and tender documents for the project will be brought back to council in the future.
This relocation will not impact the timeline of the 230 Talbot Street project.
