The Special Meeting of Council regarding the Junction East Project, planned for Tuesday April 5, has been cancelled and will be rescheduled in the next several weeks.
“City staff and project partners require a little more time to ensure that all details are as up to date as possible and that Council and the public are provided a very comprehensive presentation,” a city spokesperson confirmed in emailed correspondence.
“An alternative date for this meeting is expected to be available in the next several days.”
Junction East is a proposed 62,000-square-foot municipal building to be located on Shaughnessy Street in downtown Sudbury and is expected to include a new central library, the Art Gallery of Sudbury and potential future partners including the Sudbury Theatre Centre and Sudbury Multicultural and Folk Arts Association.
Tuesday’s meeting was expected to provide city council and the general public with a “a very comprehensive picture of the project, where it stands in terms of design, in terms of cost, in terms of options such as what we discussed this evening on energy efficiency and sustainability,” Strategic Initiatives, Communications and Citizen Services director Ian Wood said last month during a leadup meeting on March 8 to the big one now postponed.
During last month’s meeting, city council was given a presentation about the Junction East project’s environmentally friendly aspects, with the building projected to be a net-zero carbon emissions project.
This plan, for which more information will be available during the now-postponed meeting, is projected to add another $6.1 million to the project whose original cost was $46.5 million, although last year’s update projected a construction cost increase of 21 per cent.
In recent days, the project’s proponents have touted its inclusive nature, and in a joint letter to city council wrote that it will “dramatically enhance public service, arts and social service programs for youth, seniors, new citizens, workers, the homebound, community groups and community action networks, welcoming and including all who visit or make Greater Sudbury home.”
