Wallaceburg residents could have a new community hub to look forward to.
Councillor Aaron Hall will be presenting a motion at the next council meeting that asks administrative staff to prepare a report looking at what options are available for building a new community hub in Wallaceburg.
Hall said the inspiration behind the community hub came from the engagement that he and other local politicians have had with local residents.
"The idea that really triggered this stems from the community," he explained. "We've had multiple different meetings with groups. It wasn't focused on this but this was kind of an outcome and idea that was generated from multiple different groups and different people in the community. "
According to Hall, the purpose of the facility would be to accommodate a variety of different community groups including seniors, arts and music. Hall said currently there are several spots that act as community centres for different groups but not one centralized location that has the capacity to fill all the different needs in the area.
"The Wallaceburg Concert Band which is a very active and growing organization in the Wallaceburg community, they've struggled in the past year with having a location... [that's] one example of a group that's doing great things for our community and they're kind of hindered right now for a location. They really need a spot," he said. "The things that we're hearing from the community groups and different folks in the community is that they just don't have the proper space or proper location to really maximize their goals."
The motion that Hall will present also states that he is open to the idea of retrofitting an existing building into a community hub instead of building one from scratch. He said he's open to hearing different ideas and seeing what options staff comes back with.
"I'm trying to keep an open mind with it because there's a lot of different possibilities. I'm hoping to take some of that feedback that I've already heard, see if we can generate some other ideas and see if we can come up with a plan to see how we can go forward," he said. "I think at the end of the day if we can make this happen it will be really good for the community here."
Hall will present his motion on November 18. If council votes in favour of it, the staff report will come back no later than spring 2020. Hall is also requesting that the report incorporates consultation with local groups, businesses and organizations.
"I don't expect it to happen overnight," he explained. "I want lots of public consultation with this. I want to go back to some of these groups that I've already gotten feedback form and get a detailed outlook of what their needs are."