Public input sought for new Cottam Community Centre

Cottam residents had an opportunity to see the two proposed options for their new community centre at a two-hour public session on April 15 at the Ridge-view Park Field House. Town administration and councillors were on hand to hear feedback and to listen to concerns that weren’t necessarily addressed in either option.

The two designs, which will create new builds to take the place of the Ridge-view Park Field House and the Cottam Library, were developed after a building facilities review in 2023, followed by an approved budget earlier this year and through consultation with various Cottam user groups over the past several months.

Tim Del Greco, the Town of Kingsville’s Senior Manager of Capital Projects and Engineering, said, “A structural engineer hired by the town deemed that the existing buildings were not worthy of rehabilitation and they should be demolished and reconstructed.”

Architecttura — a Windsor structural engineering firm — generated the two layouts and the town received the suggested designs in early April. Both options appear to be similar, with the biggest differences being with the exterior aesthetics and the exact location for the new build on Fox Street.

Option A would see the new build taking the location of the existing Cottam Library, while Option B would be built just northwest of the library at the existing Ridgeview Park Field House.

Del Greco said, “If we build in the park, the building and storage will be together. If we build by the road, the storage for soccer and baseball will have an independent unit in the park.”

It was indicated that the set budget will be adhered to regardless of the option chosen and the total footprint for each proposed build would essentially be the same.

“The idea is to make the hall as multi-functional as possible. The library would be smaller than what they have now, but they would have the ability to open up their walls to the adjacent hall and have a bigger space overall,” said Del Greco.

The plan is for the existing buildings to be demolished beginning in October or November of this year, followed by new foundations and enclosure of the shells so that construction on the interiors can take place all winter into the spring of 2025.

Votes from the in-person session will be tabulated, while those that were unable to attend on the evening of the 15th can still provide their input and their preferred option by accessing the online tool HaveYourSay Kingsville.ca by the April 25th deadline.

On a final note, Del Greco stated, “If we get concise feedback we will bring a report to council on a select option and location, hopefully that happens later in May. We will then need council to endorse an option so that we can inform our architect to prepare the final designs.”