New Town Office Planned
Amy Gregson – Times Reporter
The Town of Strathmore is in the process of getting a preliminary design done for the potential new town office.
The preliminary work would consist of a plan of the building’s design and how it would fit on the existing lot where the town office is currently located.
“We’re not digging anything. Nothing’s being built,” said Mayor George Lattery. “At least, we can have a concept of what things are going to look like and what it’s going to do.”
Lattery was adamant that the new town office would be located on the same piece of land where the current office is, and not in Kinsmen Park.
“I still get people saying ‘you stay away from Kinsmen Park.’ It’s not going in Kinsmen Park,” said Lattery.
The town is getting Gibbes Gage Architects to do the preliminary work. They have done previous work on the Aquatic Centre.
It will cost the town $95,000 to get the preliminary work done.
The town has asked to base the proposed designs on a CPR theme because CPR had an important role in starting the Town of Strathmore.
It isn’t known when the preliminary plans will be completed.
They are looking to build a 24,000 square foot town office on two new floors in a new building.
The current town office is 8,700 square feet and the town has already outgrown it.
The building will be built to support the town and additional staff that will be needed as Strathmore continues to grow.
“Now it sounds kind of foolish that we’re going to 24,000 square foot. However, it’s not designed to house what we have,” said Lattery. “As growth happens, you end up needing more staff because it takes more to run the town.”
The Town of Chestermere recently built a larger town office in a concept similar to what Strathmore is looking at doing. Chestermere rents out their excess space to local businesses.
“It’s all for the future,” he said.
The Town currently doesn’t have the money to start building the new office.
“We have the money for the preliminary design, but to build the building, no,” said Lattery.