Ramps stretching all the way up to the fourth floor of Tom Davies Square will now be included in the library/art gallery project’s schematic design, which is currently up for tender.
This, following a successful motion by Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann during tonight’s city council meeting to have the enhanced accessibility option included.
“We’re taking a very big step,” she told Sudbury.com after the meeting, crediting her colleagues with throwing unanimous support behind a motion to help improve upon “a wonderful project.”
It’s important, she said during the meeting, that everyone, regardless of mobility, is “able to enjoy an activity or a cultural event the same as someone else, to be immersed in the event,” she said, noting that the existing plan, which includes stairs and elevators to the fourth floor, does not allow for this.
The city’s elected officials were unanimous in supporting her push for an “enhanced accessibility” option at the proposed library/art gallery project, including that of Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier, who attended tonight’s meeting virtually from his hospital bed.
“At best — God willing — at best, I will be returning (to council chambers) with a wide wheelchair,” he said, adding that he was giving Landry-Altmann’s motion his “strong support.”
Although they supported Landry-Altmann’s motion during tonight’s meeting, city council’s final decision on whether to proceed with the ramps will take place this summer, by which time they will have received a cost estimate and greater insight regarding its broader implications.
The hour-long debate to reach unanimous support during tonight’s meeting included a number of back-and-forths in which various concerns were expressed.
For one, the request for proposals for architectural and engineering services is currently open, with 56 plan takers having expressed interest thus far.
It’s closing on Feb. 1, but the deadline for questions is Jan. 18, until which time plan takers can still request extensions.
City CAO Ed Archer told city council that it’s likely an extension will be requested, which would push the project back an undetermined amount of time. Requiring the proponent to draft two plans, including one with enhanced accessibility and one without, will take more work, he said.
“If you pursue this to its natural conclusion and incorporate the ramps into every floor, that will have an increased cost overall to the project,” he said, also cautioning city council members that it’s likely to cut into functional space and require additional changes to the floor plan.
Any delay also runs the possibility of resulting in the city losing out on funding from senior levels of government, Archer said, as certain pools of money require projects to be in a shovel-ready state, which the city would be pushing back.
Following city council direction provided in November (at the same meeting they approved the $65-million library/art gallery project), the existing tender document stipulates that a sloped walkway between the first and second floors of Tom Davies Square (the city hall building at 200 Brady St.) would “be considered during design and estimated for council discussion.”
The would have kept the project on track with the Junction East Cultural Hub, which was the previously proposed $98.5-million incarnation of the library/art gallery project. The Junction East project was slated to have a ramp between the bottom two floors, with elevator and stair access to the upper floors.
Landry-Altmann’s motion effectively extends the sloped walkway option to the fourth floor.
An early-draft design of the current Cultural Hub project includes plans for the bottom two floors of 200 Brady St. and half of its third floor, which leaves the fourth floor unattributed.
“It is currently municipal service space, and the future use of that space will be validated during design,” a city spokesperson noted last year, with the same to be said for the fourth floor.
(The Art Gallery of Sudbury is slated to take up the bottom two floors of the 199 Larch St. building to the immediate north of 200 Brady St. Most municipal services are shifting from 200 Brady St. to the upper floors of 199 Larch. St. to make way for the library. The two buildings are attached and owned by the city as part of the larger Tom Davies Square Complex, which also includes Greater Sudbury Police Services headquarters.)
Archer said the fourth floor of 200 Brady St. might include municipal services, or other community groups which might complement the Cultural Hub.
While Landry-Altmann’s motion expands an accessibility option within the Cultural Hub project, the existing tender document also requires the winning proponent to engage with the city’s Accessibility Advisory Panel.
An Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act audit was completed for the Tom Davies Square Complex and will be provided to the consultant.
Once the winning proponent hits the 60-per-cent mark of finishing the schematic design, they will be required to review the latest drawings with the panel and receive their feedback.
The tender document also notes that council chambers at 200 Brady Street (which is expected to remain in use for city council business) do not currently meet Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act requirements.
“The council chambers are to be reviewed and accessibility upgrades are to be looked at with the project’s scope of work,” according to the document. “There are a number of options that could be considered, such as adding a lift, removing the atrium glass curtain wall to develop an accessible viewing gallery space, technology upgrades, etc.”
The approved timeline expects work on a schematic design to begin in the second quarter of 2024. A tender for a builder is to be awarded by the second quarter of 2025 and construction is to begin during the third quarter of 2025. Municipal operations are slated to relocate to 199 Larch St. throughout 2026, and the Cultural Hub is expected to open by the end of 2026.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
