Group launches bid to restore town hall
By Scott Woodhouse Express Staff

Close to 100 people gathered in the council chambers of the town hall last Wednesday evening for the official launch of Heritage Meaford, a group of concerned citizens dedicated to preserving the town's architectual and cultural heritage.

It was an exciting and emotional evening for Heritage Meaford President Janis Marchand.

"It may have taken the last decade to summon enough people, support and political will-power to see just what historical importance and value the Meaford town hall has - but with a recent impetus by a group of residents, the community is well on its way to getting this grand, yet neglected, civic building a much needed renovation," she said.

"Heritage Meaford believes that heritage is essential to the identity and distinctive character of our community and that heritage resources also make an important contribution to community economic development, both by attracting tourism and helping revitalize main streets," stated Marchand.

She announced that as of November 18, Heritage Meaford became the 11th affiliate branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO). With full charitable status under ACO, Heritage Meaford can now accept donations and issue tax receipts. But most importantly, being an ACO branch allows Heritage Meaford to be part of a longstanding organization that dates back to 1933. The ACO's mandate responds to Ontario's endangered architectural heritage and threatened landscapes by being a provincial voice for the protection and conservation of buildings and sites.

The evening's agenda was chaired by Deborah Thompson who asked those in attendance to, "Imagine it fully renovated, restored, accessible and fully functioning as a cultural centre for the visual and performing arts, as well as a social centre."

Thompson introduced Pat Malicki, President of the ACO, who said the job of protecting and restoring Ontario's historic town halls would become ever more important as restructuring and amalgamation leaves many municipal buildings looking for a new reason to be. But it can be done.

Malicki gave, as an example, the ACO's latest project - the Walkerville town hall. he historic brick building, which looks remarkably like Meaford's town hall, was moved from Walkerville to Windsor. "Hiram-Walker wanted to tear it down, but we saved it and now it's fully functioning," said Malicki.

Malicki said Heritage Meaford will have the added resource of a vast network of heritage and technical expertise. For example, a separate ACO advisory board has been providing preliminary advice on a wide range of matters since 1972. Skilled architects, engineers, historians, landscapes architects and other professionals with particular knowledge of heritage conservation volunteer their time to the advisory board. Heritage Meaford can tap into these experts for initial consultation in a variety of areas such as building condition, structural soundness, historical research, approaches to repair upgrades and restoration.

Marchand said Heritage Meaford plans to build a solid relationship with the new municipal council, service clubs, organizations and residents along with foundations, corporations, the provincial and federal governments as it gathers momentum for this vital project.

"Heritage Meaford has forged a partnership with the Town of Georgian Highlands and the Museum Board for application to the Ontario Superbuild Corporation under the SCTP initiative. This project will provide the major funding for restoration and function revitalization of the town hall opera house," she said.

Georgian Highlands town councillor Sam Luckhardt announced the municipality had submitted a letter of intent to the Ontario Superbuild Fund - specifically the Sports, Culture, and Tourism Partnership initiative a funding source worth over $300 million.

"This is a terrific opportunity for our community," said Luckhardt. "The council welcomes the philosophy of Heritage Meaford and is looking forward to working in partnership with the group."

Luckhardt explained the Ontario government recognizes that sport, culture and tourism facilities are a cornerstone of strong communities and the SCTP recognizes the important contributions these facilities make to Ontario's economic prosperity and high standard of living. It supports local and regional economic development that will strengthen communities and encourages strategic investment in major cultural and tourism attractions that contribute hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to the provincial economy. SCTP encourages communities to work together to identify and develop projects that will bring the greatest benefits to their residents.

He added acceptance of the two part proposal that includes both the town hall and the museum, will require the completion of a formal application to Superbuild by March 31.

"This initiative is a collaborative effort to enhance our cultural and tourism infrastructure," he said. "It embraces both municipal and community organizations. Included is the Museum Board (composed of both community and municipal representation) and Heritage Meaford (ACO Branch), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the town's built and natural heritage."

Once completed, the town hall component of the project will provide a self-sustaining civic centre that will support the cultural needs of the community and enhance tourist activities.

The expansion of the physical infrastructure of the Meaford Museum will enhance and improve the delivery of heritage conservation, education and preservation functions. Expanded facilities will result in greater tourist/visitor attendance and attract repeat visitation due to ever changing exhibits.

Serving as a catalyst for further development of the downtown and waterfront, this cultural infrastructure project will enhance the town's profile and image encouraging public participation and expanding employment opportunities in this community.

Although the town hall/opera house was designated a heritage building under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1991, little has been done in the way of major fund raising and planning in order to start any significant restoration efforts. And to say it needs a bit of work is an understatement, said Marchand. Heritage Meaford will act as a source of fund raising and a planning facilitator.

The timing couldn't be more appropriate as the newly amalgamated community moves ahead into the future. The Meaford municipal office and court will slowly leave the premises over the next year as it was deemed too expensive to renovate for administrative purposes.

Heritage Meaford asked "what is to become of this fine public building that, when it was built in 1908, was the largest and grandest in all of grey County?"

ACO president Malicki said the group was off to a good start. "Most meetings like this that I attend only have a handful of people," she said. "The enthusiastic attendance here tonight shows you have a lot of support."

The town hall is the first important project chosen by Heritage Meaford. Not only a renovation and restoration initiative, but a major planning initiative must be carried out in order to make it a viable, self-supporting and sustainable building. The town hall/opera house needs to be extensively used and Heritage Meaford's intentions are to bring it alive and ultimately function to its full capacity.

Several recent reports to council on economic growth strategy sees "The restoration of the Meaford town hall as being part of the economic turnaround for both the downtown core and the community as a whole."