The town of Ladysmith’s plan to borrow $13.5 million for a new city hall has been defeated in an alternative-approval process.
A total of 2,135 voters, or 28.8 per cent of eligible electors, submitted response forms to the municipality opposing a loan authorization bylaw.
Opponents handily killed the plan. Under provincial rules 10 per cent of electors, or in this case 741 electors, were needed to defeat it.
Ladysmith had hoped to build a more spacious city hall and consolidate operations, as well as add additional square footage for housing at the proposed Buller Street and First Avenue location.
“We respect the results of the alternative-approval process and will carefully consider next steps,” Mayor Aaron Stone said in a statement Wednesday.
“We are committed to moving forward and exploring alternative solutions that align with the needs and priorities of our staff and community as a whole.”
Project opponent Richard Kinar likened the result to a non-confidence vote.
Alternative-approval processes are more suited for must-do infrastructure projects, he said. This was the wrong process for the proposed development.
Kinar said he did not believe the city hall project could have been delivered on time and on budget and said there should have been more transparency.
Critics opposed the chosen location, preferring to see that site dedicated to commercial uses rather than local government, which would have been located on the ground floor of the development.
Ladysmith was hoping to construct a new building of up to six storeys to replace its 1952 city hall, which is so cramped that the municipality has to rent space elsewhere.
City hall is just 3,152 square feet. Plans called for Ladysmith to have 19,000 square feet on the ground floor, with another several thousand square feet that could have been used for institutional or community purposes. That additional space would have been available for the municipality to expand in future years.
The plan called for Catalyst Community Developments Society and the province, through the sa国际传媒 Builds program, to development 95 middle-market rental units on upper levels to help alleviate the housing shortage.
Municipal council will receive the official results at its Tuesday meeting.
