Council Moves Forward with Chatham-Kent Community Hub Project

At last night’s Council meeting, Council voted to continue forward with the Chatham-Kent Community Hub project. This vote gives administration direction to proceed with the detailed design phase of the project and hire a contracted project manager to facilitate to project. Councillor Anthony Ceccacci added two amendments to the motion to ensure financial accountability throughout the project through the creation of a fixed-cost Request for Proposal and to provide high level cost estimates for upgrading the Civic Centre, Museum and Library (including expanding it to 35,000 sq. ft. as is recommended in the Library Masterplan).

The proposed Chatham-Kent Community Hub is a multi-year project that is now in its third phase. The first phase was completed in October of 2023 when Council authorized the purchase of the former Sears portion of the Downtown Chatham Centre. The second phase established the Stakeholder Engagement Group, created detailed concept designs, an updated cost estimate, and featured public engagement on the concept designs. The third phase now entails finalization of the designs, tendering costs, construction procurement, and pending approval, the commencement of construction.

“This is a great step towards realization of the Community Hub, toward bringing a project to life that benefits our entire community,” said Mayor Darrin Canniff. “The CK Community Hub is a once-in-a-lifetime project that will bring new life, new business, and new opportunity to Chatham-Kent. We have saved for this through many years of planning, and as such it will not impact the taxes of our residents. We are working hard to ensure the new Community Hub is accessible, sustainable, and through shared facilities and services, financially beneficial to everyone in CK.”

Throughout the Chatham-Kent Community Hub project, the Municipality of Chatham-Kent has facilitated multiple opportunities for public engagement. To date, there have been three public information sessions, attended by over 300 residents, and two online public surveys conducted through the Let’s Talk platform, each garnering over 1,000 responses. There have also been three Stakeholder Engagement meetings, which were held to ensure that the lived and practiced experiences from community stakeholders are heard, considered, and reflected when designs for the proposed Chatham-Kent Community Hub are being developed. The Stakeholder Engagement Group includes representatives from the CK Public Library Board, the Accessibility Advisory Committee, the Municipal Museums Advisory Committee, and the Gallery Advisory Committee. These stakeholders represent their respective boards and committees and bring feedback and input from their groups for consideration as the project progresses. There have also been several 1-on-1 meetings with local advisory committees and boards throughout the process.