Guelph city council is expected to discuss and vote next week on new plans for the downtown Baker District redevelopment.
City staff have come up with an alternative site layout that would see the 88,000-square-foot library move from the bottom floors of a residential tower on the north end of the site to a free-standing building on the south end.
Putting the library in its own building saves money without losing any of the planned amenities and programs, the city said.
“We expect the alternative layout to create more property tax revenue and improve the overall financial viability of the project, while still meeting all of the original development objectives,” the city’s project manager Stephanie Guy said.
Currently, the construction price tag is expected to be somewhere between $106.9 million and $116.9 million, including $67.1 million for the library. The new plan lowers the cost to between $84.3. million and 89.3 million, including $62 million for the library.
Upper levels of government will not be providing funding for the library, so all of the costs will fall on Guelph’s taxpayers.
Staff have asked for a 0.39 per cent increase to the tax levy, starting next year and remaining in place for 20 years.
They are also asking to delay construction of the library by one year, until 2022.
One of the reasons to move the library is due to a lack of interest in the institutional space that was planned for the standalone building for a college or university. The city said this is partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic now that colleges and universities are offering most of their courses online.
“There’s always a chance an institutional partner will still come forward and we’d still have an opportunity to include institutional space in the north residential tower,” Guy said.
The city said there’s also been an increase in how much it would have to spend to purchase land and “significant complexities” with putting the library in the bottom floors of a residential tower.
City council’s committee of the whole is expected to meet on Monday at 2 p.m. to discuss and vote on the changes. The decision will then be ratified during a special council meeting two days later.
The full report on the alternative plan can be found on the city’s website.