A more-than-capacity crowd packed council chambers at city hall Thursday night, all of them wanting to hear the same thing council was gathered to hear – thoughts on what should happen with 270 Water Street should the city decide to sell it off.
The land is home to the former Normal School, also known as the Discovery Centre, and the proposed disposal excludes the eastern balance of the property. The idea of selling the property, which Stratford took ownership of from the province in 2001, was the subject of a November 12, 2024 council meeting where the city voted to initiate the process of disposing of it.
The Stratford Festival’s artistic director, Antoni Cimolino, spoke first and pitched the Festival’s case for making a deal with the city that would see the Festival pay $1 for the building.
“Should this building be declared surplus, it needs to go to a good citizen, and the Festival has proven to be a good citizen,” he said. “We bring in $277 million in economic activity and help create 1,500 equivalent jobs each year. Five years ago, the building was estimated to need $3 million in upgrades and repairs, and we’re currently working on getting an update on that. We ran a deficit for the 2024 season so our budgets will be tight, and we hope that the city would see value in selling to the Festival for $1. We recognize that it is a beautiful building and maintaining it is an expensive proposition – what we can offer is being an excellent caretaker of it.”
While that was met with a hefty round of applause, that was not the only well-received idea. Jane Marie Mitchell spoke about how a multitude of community groups would benefit from seeing the space made publicly available, and also pointed out that city staff could be relocated there given their pinch for space. She also offered a warning to council and the public about choosing the right potential owner going forward.
“If you remember, Avoncrest was sold to the (Stratford General) Hospital for $1, and then the building was neglected and eventually torn down,” she said. “I don’t want to see the same fate here. If the city chooses to sell to the Festival for $1, they should be able to demand an agreement on the property’s upkeep.”
Jason Davis spoke up and questioned why the building was being declared surplus when, in his opinion, it’s far from that.
“We don’t have a use for it right now, but that can change,” he said. “Declaring this a surplus building means that’s money we’ll never have after it's sold. This is a short-termed thought process and I want to see ownership of it maintained. The city needs daycare facilities desperately – I’ve waited over four years for child care. Plus if you open a child care centre here, the proximity to the park would foster good relationships with the families that use it and help keep people in the city. I don’t think something like that would interfere with the Festival, and when a municipality runs its own childcare facility, employees can afford to live and work here.”
Loreena McKennitt closed out the public comments, briefly going over her history with the Normal School and how she contributed to help keep the building. She cautioned those in attendance to really think this decision through.
“I feel there could be meaningful purposes for this building, and the Festival could be one of them,” she said. “But I would like to see that if the building is indeed sold for $1, if the new owner doesn’t succeed in their plans that the property would come back into the city’s hands.”
A report will now be prepared for council, including a summary of the meeting’s feedback. They will then have to decide whether or not to declare the building surplus, determine the method of disposal and then set a sale price if necessary.
