Mount Pleasant Village Library / Community Centre / Elementary School
100 Commuter Dr., Brampton, Ontario
Type: New construction
Size: 94,700 sf
Project Cost: unknown
Development Partners:
- City of Brampton
- Brampton Library
- Peel District School Board
Status: Opened in 2011
Description
The Mount Pleasant Village Library, Community Centre and Elementary School is a two-storey elementary school sharing facilities with the library and community centre, with the three facilities are attached through interior connections and use shared space.
Complexity / Collaboration
The school board and the City jointly executed a single purchase agreement to purchase the land from the developer Mattamy. The PDSB and the City shared in the purchase of the block. contributing funding commensurate with the approximate footprint area that each partner would occupy in the joint-use building. The City’s contribution came via development charge credits, as agreed upon in the MOU executed between the City, Mattamy and the Mount Pleasant Secondary Plan landowners in February 2010.
The school board paid its share of the land acquisition costs to the developer, but those funds were held in escrow until the city could transfer the board’s part interest in the property. To govern the school board’s occupancy of its exclusive space in the building once constructed and until it could receive a conveyance of its partial interest from the City, a lease was entered by City as landlord and school board as tenant.
Under the terms of the ISF funding, the municipality must own all portions of the project for which ISF funding is being used, for a period of no less than 5 years. The MOU stipulates that the City would take title to the joint-use block for that period. The City entered into a separate exclusive leasing arrangement with the PDSB and a license agreement with Brampton Library, for the use of their respective portions of the building, over the 5-year period.
User Interaction/Partnership Framework
This is a joint-use building that was constructed through a partnership arrangement between the City of Brampton and the Peel District School Board (PDSB). The building includes a public elementary school combined with a City-owned cultural amenity space. The cultural space is Infrastructure Stimulus Fund (ISF)-funded and includes space for a branch library, to be leased and operated by the Brampton Public Library (BPL). There is programmable community space combined with ancillary space that supports the civic square, which would be operated by the Community Services Department (CSD). A total of $6M from the allocated $23M ISF eligible funding is being directed toward the cultural amenity space.
The benefits of the City participating with the PDSB in the joint development and operation of a building include capital and operating costs savings by the sharing of space. The school is able to use the public library’s materials and computer labs, and there are formal access rights to the elementary school’s general-purpose room and gymnasium for Community Services. There were cost savings as well, including a combined construction saving of approximately $1.969 million, which represents approximately 14% of the total estimated construction cost. The City’s construction savings are an estimated $.678M based on projected tender pricing. The City estimates that savings accrued through access to shared facilities is valued at $1.5 million.
Costs / Funding
The City’s share of the land acquisition costs was funded from development charge credits. The federal and provincial funding received through the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund (ISF) was used towards construction costs. Mattamy funded the costs relating to the ISF portion of the project. The school board purchased the playing fields lands. The developer Mattamy and City developed the project through the “Hub Agreement”.
$6 million of the available $23 million ISF funding was allocated to the joint-use building. $4 million of the $6 million is from Federal and Provincial Governments through the ISF grant, with $1 million contributed by the Mount Pleasant Secondary Plan Landowners Group and the final $1M is being funded through a 2009 Library project.
Questions?
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