What began as a project to make the Art Gallery of St. Albert (AGSA) universally accessible to individuals with physical challenges has evolved into a potential $4.575 million addition to the building that caught city council totally by surprise.
Paul Moulton, executive director of the Arts and Heritage Foundation (AHF), presented the agency's vision of an eastward extension to the Banque d'Hochelaga to council Monday night as an almost-full gallery watched.
As explained by architect Jeremy Sturgess, the addition would run along St. Anne Street with a ramp offering access to a new main entrance, while an elevator inside would offer access to all levels of both the Banque building and the addition, including the washrooms.
The administrative report concedes the addition goes beyond the original scope of the project, which Coun. Cam MacKay quickly dubbed "the understatement of the century."
"We were asked for wheelchair accessibility and now we've got a $5-million expense," MacKay said.
"Where does this stuff come from? No one on council approved an art gallery and it just came forward out of the blue?"
Moulton explained in a later interview the scope of the project flowed from a number of principles, starting with the fact he believes it is "inappropriate" for a city-owned building to lack universal accessibility. Given the historic nature of the Banque d'Hochelaga building, the city can't just build a metal ramp outside, he added.
"The only way to appropriately bring people with accessibility issues is to bring them through the front door," Moulton said. "The only way to do that is to relocate the front door. The minute you do that you have to add onto the building. There are no universally accessible washrooms in this building."
So Moulton contends, if you're going to build a new front entrance, it follows the AHF should increase the gallery space to meet the needs of the community for the next several decades.
"What's not debatable is public facilities should be universally accessible," Moulton said.
The extension would also allow the gallery to consolidate all its staff and activities in one location, meaning it would no longer have to lease its gallery space on Perron Street or its separate offices.
Cost estimates
City administration and the AHF have taken different approaches to costing out how much of the addition, if approved, the city would be responsible for funding. As presented by the AHF, building the addition would save the city $74,000 in leases annually for the two other spaces. Calculated over 25 years, that represents a savings to the city of $1.8 million, which the city could use to fund the addition. That means the city would only be required to hand over another $500,000 in new money.
The balance would be made up by provincial funding estimated at $225,000, a grant from Canadian Heritage totalling $950,000 and AHF fundraising totaling $516,900.
The administrative report asks for the city to allocate $2.35 million in additional capital funds for the project and reduce the AHF annual operating grant by $74,000. Council has also earmarked approximately $40,000 in 2012 and $491,000 in 2013 for the universal accessibility project.
Moulton said the proposal offers the city a perpetual $74,000 reduction in its annual ask from the city during budget deliberations. There's also the matter of turning money intended to fund operations into capital dollars.
"That's a little tricky. The way financial systems are set up, dollars are really segregated into operating and capital."
Agreement
The city and AHF also have yet to renegotiate the stewardship agreement between both parties. The last agreement has been extended until December of 2012.
For Moulton, even in the worst-case scenario — that the city concludes it no longer needs the AHF — the city would still benefit from the art gallery.
"We have to have an art gallery in our community. Holding up the agreement is really not a real obstacle," Moulton said.
But for some councillors it is. Coun. Cathy Heron said she was not comfortable moving forward until a new agreement is in place.
"It's not an impediment but a key factor," Heron said. "I think we can work together, but I would like to see them give us a set amount in the budget, because if you look at the numbers, what AHF has asked us for in past years has been all over the map."
Next steps
Administration had originally proposed adding the addition to the 10 year capital plan, giving the AHF $500,000 so it could apply for its federal grant and allocating $2.35 million in capital funds while reducing the AHF's operating grant by $74,000 per year.
Council instead passed a motion by Coun. Roger Lemieux to refer the project to the standing committee on finance's capital budget discussion in May.
"This will take a lot of work and manoeuvring to navigate through this and May is the time to discuss capital," Lemieux said.
Moulton said he wasn't surprised by Lemieux's motion.
"I fully expected it. This needs to go through the process and a review by the standing committee on finance is the most appropriate venue for that."
