Gallery in the Grove, Bright's Grove, Ontario
Just the Facts
A resident of Bright's Grove expressed concerns via a letter to City Council and on December 3 met with senior city admin and the Mayor of Sarnia. This resident submitted documents that were false and misleading. We were not included in this meeting nor after the meeting to give a response. This page is created to provide facts to the community about this project and positive impacts it would have made for the people of Sarnia Lambton. Many of the issues raised by this individual such as parking and size of the project would have been worked out during the detailed design phase.
Why is this Project Important?
Bright's Grove does not have a public Community Room. The library is two rooms and not accessible. The washrooms are not accessible. The second floor is not accessible.
This is a City Owned Building. Accessibility is the law. What was being Asked on Dec 7, 2021?
This committee was asking City Council to add this project to the 10 year Capital Plan. To date, the City of Sarnia had invested $110,000.00 into the project, along with a $10k donation that the city accepted from Gallery in the Grove.
On December 7, members of City Council voted to table the project as they wanted more information from city staff. Council members who voted to table the project were: Mike Bradley, Terry Burrell, Bill Dennis, Dave Boushy and Margaret Bird. Thank you to: Brian White, Nathan Colquhoun, George Vandenberg and Mike Stark for supporting project. On November 22, Committee Co-Chairs made a presentation to City Council that provided council with years of information compiled by the committee, the County of Lambton Library division and Gallery in the Grove. The fact that members of council needed more information is puzzling. To table this project means that Bright's Grove will not have an accessible building/library for at least another three years. Committee members have been dialoguing with City Staff for over 25 years on this project. We can't quite frankly believe the lack of support or interest from city staff. In fact, the co-chairs hadn't heard from city staff since July and that they would meet with a resident who had concerns and not bother coming back to us for clarification is extremely frustrating. |
What Would a Community Room Look Like?
A Community Room addition to this project would mean:
Libraries in 2022 and Beyond!
The library is far too small for the population of the community and beyond.
The County of Lambton Library Division provided city council with ARUPLO Guidelines which define what a library space should be based on the population. The actual suggested space was 10,000 sq ft - we worked with the architect to define the space to 7000 sq ft. Libraries are vibrant hubs with resources and programming for all ages. |
What About Parking?
Yes, Bright's Grove Public School is adjacent to the Faethorne House. In fact the City of Sarnia owns that parking lot so in fact it would be on the school board to expand their parking. OR, in reality - parking would not be a problem. The busiest time of day is beginning of school and end of school day. Community Room programming can be scheduled after school starts. The parking lot is half empty in the middle of a school day. Additionally, school is closed after 3:30 p.m. every day, closed on weekends and closed in the summer. The resident who raised concerns said that "Bright's Grove school population was 700 students", when in fact it's 321. Additionally he compared an enlarged library and community room space to the annual Rotary Art in the Park event "every day if this project were allowed". This is absolutely false and inflammatory. Finally, if this project were to have been added to the capital projects list, these concerns could easily have been addressed during the detailed design process.
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