By Pepper Parr
March 24th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
At one point it looked like the renovation of Civic Square was a possible 2026 municipal election issue. The original plan was to have the upgrade completed sometime in the first half o 2026 which would be smack in the middle of the election.
Civic Square as it exists today. Staff make excellent use of the space.
A montage of views – what Civic Square will look like when the upgrade is complete.
We’ve learned that design should be completed by March of this year. A tender is scheduled to be awarded in the fall. Construction will take place between spring of 2026 and spring of 2027. And the opening ceremony for the new civic square is slated to be spring of 2027.
At one point the city expected construction to take place mid-2025 and be completed a year later.
This is what Civic Square looks like now.
Proposed design for lighting at Civic Square
Three highlights are: the new, smaller, design for the parking lot adjacent to city hall off of Elgin street; this is the space where Councillors get to park their cars; the new water feature (fountain with in-ground jets and lighting); and steel and wood cantilevered canopies with integrated lighting and public art to add visual appeal and functionality.
Quite how art makes a site more functional is something we fail to grasp.
Design should be completed by March of this year. A tender is scheduled to be awarded in the fall. Construction will take place between the spring of 2026 and the spring of 2027. And the opening ceremony for the new civic square is slated to be spring of 2027.
At one point the city expected construction to take place mid-2025 and be completed a year later.
The budget for the project is currently more than $6.5 million, with much of the funding coming from federal and provincial sources.
Expect that $6.5 million to be bumped up – it will get blamed on Donald Trump.
Anne and Dave Marsden point out, quite rightly, that the the original council approved plan was to have the Civic Square access and safety issues addressed in 2019 for a budget of $1 million.
If I am reading this article correctly the area where the councillors parked will now become an area with a water feature and cantilevered canopies with lighting and public art. Sounds very nice.
I realize that a parking lot is not aesthetically pleasing but where will these people park? One of the major issues in the core is lack of parking, especially since new condo developments( 29 stories) in this area have no public parking and many have less or just 1 parking space per unit.
Let’s also not forget that funds coming in the way of grants from the Provincial and Federal Governments are paid for by our taxpayer dollars.
And the handicapped parking is there.
Absolute waste of taxpayers money!
Especially when you consider the original plan approved by the 2018 Council for completion in 2019 was $1 million that would have addressed the access and safety issues that remain.