After hours of deputations, dissent, and debate Chatham-Kent Council made a decision; they will be purchasing the Sears building from the current owners of the Downtown Chatham Centre (DCC).
"Rarely have I seen such an overwhelming opposition from the community on an issue. And never have I seen such a disconnect between the apparent will of the people and the apparent will of Council," said Ward 2 Councillor Trevor Thompson.
Thompson's comments followed 13 deputations against the purchase. Speakers included a developer, a representative from the Chatham-Kent Property Rights Group, and the Kent Federation of Agriculture. All of them believed the money should be spent to renovate and refurbish the current civic building and for other infrastructure projects.
Another concern was the "confusing" wording that's been put forward in previous reports.
This was a concern shared by Ward 6 Councillor Alysson Storey, who had an additional motion about financial transparency for the Sears building purchase on the agenda.
Ultimately, with the approval of the purchase, Storey withdrew her motion to make amendments to it and it will come back before council at the next meeting.
"The intent of this motion was financial transparency," she said after deciding to change it.
"My only concern, and I just want to reiterate it for the record, is the huge disconnect from our community feedback to this report. We're not reflecting the needs and directions of our constituents," Storey added.
Several councillors noted that they understand the hesitation and distaste for spending so much money.
Ward 2 Councillor Anthony Ceccacci cited previous inaction on repairs to the Civic Centre leaving everyone in a difficult position now. "Nobody wants to spend this type of money on civic infrastructure," he said. "[But] this is an opportunity to incorporate multiple municipal assets under one roof with potential cost savings long-term," he pointed out.
Ceccacci added that potential energy savings, operational cost savings, and the ability to improve accessibility issues for not only Council Chambers, but the library and the museum are all upsides to moving to the Sears building.
Mayor Darrin Canniff, who voted for the motion, agreed with Storey, saying that council does need more concrete numbers and information. "That's what the next 6-9 months is [for]. It's to come up with a detailed plan of what this building's going to look like. We're going to cost it out. We're going to come back to council sometime in the next year, or less, and say 'here is the exact cost, here is exactly what we're building.' Then we can make a decision based on that."
That's where the negotiated buy-back clause comes into play.
After purchasing the property, the Municipality can formulate a final design and assess how much money will be needed to put that plan into motion, if within 18-24 months it's decided that the redevelopment won't work the current landowner can buy the property back for the same purchase price. If improvements have been made to the building in that time by the Municipality, those costs will be added to the buy-back price.
The motion to buy the Sears building and move forward on the planning stage of the new Chatham Community Hub passed with a vote of 11-5.