It’s being described as “a stunningly beautiful” facility.
Not the language you expect to hear when describing a childcare centre.
However, at the official ribbon-cutting Thursday of Stationview Child Care Centre on St. Catharine Street, across from the recently opened Westlake-Evans Park, it was immediately evident the descriptor was most appropriate.
The facility with room for 88 children has been open for some time but is not at capacity just yet due to the need for additional staff.
The ceremony was held in one of the group areas and, as is obvious in the photo, it is a bright, spacious and creative play and learning space.
Teresa Sulowski, Manager of Children’s Services for the City of St. Thomas called it “a very momentous occasion that marks the culmination of hard work, dedication and a shared vision for creating much-needed childcare spaces in St. Thomas/Elgin.”

She continued, “The process to build the centre started many years ago with the approval for this centre being announced in April of 2018.

“Original funding for the centre was offered through the Ministry of Education’s community-based Early Years Childcare capital program and although plans for the building of this centre began shortly after the announcement, the impact of COVID-19 significantly delayed the breaking of ground.”
Yes, COVID did delay the completion of the structure, however, there is far more to the story which we will delve into momentarily.
The St. Catharine Street location was not even the initial site proposed for the child care centre.
Sulowski added, “Quality childcare programs play a very important part in the role of helping parents work and pursue education while providing a safe, high-quality learning environment for their children.
“Every family deserves the right to quality, affordable childcare and this 88-space centre in this location is providing that for families in St. Thomas/Elgin.”
She noted, “This project would not have been possible without the support of the city, city council and our childcare provider.
“The collaborative partnership is a great example of how our community continues to show its dedication to supporting the families who live here.

“The City of St. Thomas is thrilled to partner with the YMCA of Southwestern Ontario to make this childcare centre a reality in our community.
“They are committed to providing quality childcare in Elgin while providing positive outcomes for children.”
St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston praised the combined efforts of city council and staff.
“Thank you for the collective of a council that says things like this are important. We can’t grow the economy of the City of St. Thomas if we don’t have great childcare to go with it.
“I also want to thank the staff of the City of St. Thomas.

“This is incredibly beautiful and if you look around the room, one of the things I take pride in and I think is really important, everything you see in this space has been carefully chosen to enhance the cognitive and social development of children.”

“We can be very proud. If you stand on the corner of Curtis Street and St. Catharine, you can see a marked difference from just two years ago with Westlake-Evans Park and this new childcare centre and the other improvements along the street including the library and the murals that go with it.
“We’re concerned and diligent about making our downtown a more productive and active space and we have achieved and we will continue to go that way.”
It was Andrew Lockie, CEO of the YMCA of Southwestern Ontario who marvelled at the beauty of the centre.
“We’re YMCA of Southwestern Ontario, which means we span across the region of Southwestern Ontario and we are the largest childcare operator.
“We know the landscape out there in terms of what childcare can be and this is at the top of the list.
“This is incredibly beautiful and if you look around the room, one of the things I take pride in and I think is really important, everything you see in this space has been carefully chosen to enhance the cognitive and social development of children.”
He continued, “There are few things in our country that are more important than childcare. It crosses over into multiple, incredibly important matters such as gender equity, economic development and childhood development. Can you think of three more important things than that? It checks all those boxes.
“Being able to open a childcare site like this, 88 licensed spaces, which is also one of our largest in the region as well is a real treat.
“We work with municipal governments across the region and certainly not disparaging any of them but City of St. Thomas staff are terrific and really great to work with and it results in partnerships like this.”
It truly is a beautiful and inspiring environment in which to nurture the youngsters lucky enough to spend their early years there.
But let’s just take a moment to clarify the road that led to the Stationview Child Care Centre because there were decisions made with critical political implications.
A report from then-city manager Wendell Graves for the June 3, 2019 council meeting contained several sober facts.
Phase 2 of the city’s social services and housing hub – recently opened on Queen Street – was to include a childcare centre in addition to housing units.
The city had received $2.6 million in funding for the childcare space, with the proviso it would be operational by December 2020.
Of note in Graves’ report was the fact that “preliminary cost estimates for the construction of the proposed Phase 2 project are high.”
Graves continued, “At this point, the actual business case for the Phase 2 project is soft and the cost per residential unit is projected to be fairly high ($290,515 per unit).
In July 2019, Graves unveiled Plan B for the childcare centre. It was to be located on the St. Catharine Street parking lot, across from the former Colin McGregor Justice Building.
The goal was to start construction in September of that year to meet the province’s original target of the end of 2020.
Fast forward two years to 2021 and the proposed childcare centre was still in limbo.
In a report to council from Graves for the July 11 meeting, he indicated the results of the tendering process undertaken in June of that year pointed to an escalation in cost of about $300,000.
That would put the cost estimate in the $4.3 million range whereas just over $4 million has been budgeted for the badly needed 88-space childcare facility.
Back in April of that year, Graves had recommended to council “the proposed childcare project on St. Catharine Street be cancelled and the funds returned to the province” because the city couldn’t meet the new deadline of a completed facility by this September.
Credit is due to the province which, on two occasions, extended the completion date for the facility to receive the $2.6 million in funding.
At that July 11 meeting, it was agreed the revised date would be pushed back to December 2022.
As to that $300,000 shortfall, Coun. Steve Wookey put it bluntly, “If it requires $300,000 of our money to get 88 childcare spots, I’m in favour of that.
“And whether that’s through budget monitoring or you name it, councillors will go out and do a circus performance if we need to.”
It was Mayor Preston who attempted to throw cold water on dealing with the shortfall.
“I understand the province is bending over backwards to try and make these things work, but these are the responsibilities of the province, not the responsibility of the municipality.
“Let’s ask the province to do the job they are supposed to do, which is the full funding of it over a period of time.
“I don’t disagree with my colleagues that this is really needed and we could probably jump in and help, but I would hate to jump in and help and make it a permanent we will always help.”
Keep in mind if the city had proceeded with the original plan in 2018, that $2.6 million in provincial funding might have covered the majority of the construction costs at the time.
Now you know the rest of the story.

Related posts:

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Childcare spaces disappear as the result of a ‘soft’ business case

TREND REVERSAL FOR CITY POLICE

The St. Thomas Police Service is on track for a record-breaking year.
However, it’s a dubious record at best.
Just before midnight last Sunday, the service passed the 20,000 calls for service mark for the year. That’s a full month sooner than last year.
And, as of 9:30 Wednesday morning, the service had responded to 20,134 calls.
At this pace, city police are on track to post a record-breaking year of incidents requiring a police response.
A quick comparison of the total incidents recorded on December 31st at 11:59 p.m. in recent years:

• 2022: 20,682 incidents
• 2021: 21,924 incidents
• 2020: 22,173 incidents

Police note many of these incidents require hours of officer attention and further follow-up in the days after.
Not included are other daily responsibilities such as court appearances, focused patrols and community engagement.

DOUG TARRY ENJOYS INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP ROLE

The past several months have been quite the whirlwind for St. Thomas homebuilder Doug Tarry.
Back in October, he was stateside wowing his peers with his award-winning home designs.
Also in October, he orchestrated the three-day home build on Oneida Nation of the Thames, completed with military precision.
And this past week, Tarry celebrated his 500th Net Zero Ready home.
The home is located at 31 Snowy Owl Trail in the Eagle Ridge subdivision in Central Elgin near Sunset Drive and Southdale Line.
Oh and did we mention he is now an author?
More on that in a moment.
At the commemoration event Thursday at the home Tarry observed, “It’s really a great honour to be with you to celebrate this milestone.
“To be the first ones in Canada to reach this milestone is not just a great honour, we’re also one of the top Net Zero Ready, zero energy builders in North America.”
He referenced the summit he attended last month and the recognition received at that time.
“And, in fact, this fall at the Energy & Environmental Building Alliance Summit in Salt Lake City, there were four builder awards that Canadians could put their names in for and we were finalists in three of the four categories.
“And this particular home you are going to see today won for excellence in electrification against all our American counterparts.
“It goes without saying we could not accomplish this without the ongoing commitment and dedication of our staff, trades, supplier partners and also our customers who had the faith in us to buy from us.

“And, we have to recognize our friends at Building Knowledge Canada.”
Building Knowledge Canada is a company that provides building science advisory services to professional builders and renovators in Canada. They help builders navigate building codes, select tools, and apply leading building science techniques to build high-performance, high-quality and healthy homes, according to their website.
In particular, Tarry recognized Gord Cooke as president and Andrew Oding as vice-president of Building Knowledge Canada.
Tarry continued, “Andy was instrumental in pushing us to go all in on net zero. We were doing it as an option and then he said ‘but Doug, there’s this builder an hour-and-a-half away from you and they’re thinking about going 100 per cent net zero and you can beat them to that.’
“And, thank you to the Canadian Home Builders Association for creating the program in the first place. It took courage and insight.
“However, as our homes became more efficient, there were many times our needs went beyond what is readily available in the market.
“And sometimes, in order to find solutions, we frequently had to turn to manufacturers and academia to create solutions. Sometimes there just wasn’t anything out there that worked.
“Oftentimes these became alternative compliances to the existing building code and they are now having an impact on what is being offered to the industry such as our efforts around air source heat pumps.
“We were the first and now you have people like Enbridge going out there and selling air source heat pump programs.

“As we approach the 70th anniversary of Doug Tarry Homes and Doug Tarry Limited, it is both extremely satisfying and deeply humbling to enjoy the leadership position we have within the North American home building industry. We look forward to building the next 500.”

“But, it was because of the work we did and figuring out. And again, building knowledge is how we got there.
“Also recognition to the City of St. Thomas, the building officials and other municipal partners and their building officials.
They deserve a heartfelt thank-you as well. We were doing some really crazy stuff – and we still do – and on occasion, we had to work through challenges that required alternative solutions because it wasn’t there in the building codes.
“These are solutions that they could have simply said ‘No.’ But, they didn’t, they worked with us and that enabled us to implement those solutions and that’s why you see houses like this being built.”
As for the new hat he is wearing as an author, the book is entitled From Bleeding Edge to Leading Edge and it is currently with the publisher awaiting a shipping date.
It’s a builder’s guide to net zero homes.
“It really talks about the story,” explained Tarry. “There’s a whole lot of ‘don’t do that it doesn’t work, you need to do it this way.’
“And the philosophy behind why we have to go not just to net zero but beyond.
“I can’t wait to have copies in my hands. It’s been a long journey, four years.”
Tarry concluded the ceremony by noting, “As we approach the 70th anniversary of Doug Tarry Homes and Doug Tarry Limited, it is both extremely satisfying and deeply humbling to enjoy the leadership position we have within the North American home building industry.
“We look forward to building the next 500.”

Related post:

A pair of new St. Thomas schools included in the London District Catholic School Board wish list

FOR THE CALENDAR

The Ministry of Transportation is holding a second public information session this Wednesday (Nov. 22) regarding the twinning of Hwy. 3 through St. Thomas and the Talbotville Bypass. The open house runs from 5 until 8 p.m. at St. Anne’s Centre.

THE ECHO CHAMBER

In a comment to the City Scope Facebook page, reader Valerie Young expressed her frustration with the lack of progress on a new animal shelter.

“Thank you for publishing my question about the animal shelter and for the link you provided.
“I’m still disappointed that this city doesn’t feel like it’s a priority, I guess it’s not a big booming business putting money in their coffers, so it’s on the back burner.
“I’ve seen so many posts of lost & found animals that people do not take to our current shelter.
“I believe one of the reasons is because if you look at it, it is a scary-looking place, people feel posting and holding animals themselves to be a better solution and that’s sad.”

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And a reminder, I can be heard weekday afternoons as news anchor and reporter on 94.1 myFM in St. Thomas. As always, your comments and input are appreciated.