By Pepper Parr
July 13th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
The renovations to the inside of city hall are complete and you can now walk in and interact with people.
The ground floor appears more spacious and is certainly more than a step away from the faded somewhat dowdy look most people were familiar with.
Looking towards the Brant Street entrance
Passageway leading to the service areas – Locust street entrance to the left
The city held something in the way of an Official opening; there were blue and yellow balloons strewn around and some picture on easels that displayed that the city hall area used to look like.
There is much more space for people to meet, a large television screen – it seems to be stuck on the city web site page. Wonder what running a soccer match would do to any sense of vibrancy.
The upgrade wasn’t intended to make the place a comfortable spot to meet up with a friend. It’s a place of business and on that level it works jut fine.
Give it six months to get a full sense of what we have.
The City Administration decision to have staff working as both full time at the office and full time at home – with variations on that theme has reduced the demand for space.
A consensus on just how well this approach will work out long term and the impact it will have on the efficiency and productivity isn’t in yet.
Building permit applications and the more technical matters get dealt with at these counters. S significant improvement over the dingy space they had in the lower level.
Pay your parking tickets, counters you can work at standing.
A seating area where staff can come to the lobby and meet with residents.
Stairway leading to the City Council Chamber on the second floor. Significant changes made to that area as well.
As the city grows, the administration and technical people needed to keep the wheels going round will increase. Is City Hall is as it exists now going to be able to accommodate the growth? There isn’t a consensus on that either.
Next step: Redesigning Civic Square which hopefully will include a change to this 50’s look that serves as the entrance to city hall. A former Director of Planning for the City once called the structure “iconic”.
Meanwhile, the ground floor of City Hall looks just fine. No word yet and just how much it cost to get what we now have.
