BARRHEAD - County of Barrhead council has authorized its municipal manager to begin negotiations with the province to become the anchor tenant of the old Adult Distance Learning Centre (ADLC) building.
Councillors authorized county manager Debbie Oyarzun to enter into negotiations with the Government of Alberta following an Oct. 15 in-camera council session.
The building has been effectively empty, with only minimal activity since the ADLC closed in June 2021 after the province cut its funding.
The Barrhead municipalities have been investigating possibly using and converting the building into a municipal/civic centre in October 2022 as part of Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF) discussions.
ICF agreements are established between neighbouring municipalities on various issues impacting both communities, such as recreation, shared water and sewer, and joint land planning. These agreements were made mandatory under the province's revised Municipal Government Act (MGA).
A month later, the municipalities jointly applied for an Alberta Community Partnership (ACP) grant of $147,570. The grant would fund a formal study conducted by Next Architecture Inc. to determine whether it is economically feasible to repurpose the over 76,000-square-foot facility.
After the meeting, Reeve Doug Drozd said he was limited in what, at this point, kind of information from the feasibility study he could speak to, as the municipality would use the information as part of its negotiations.
However, if negotiations are fruitful, the county plans to relocate its municipal offices to the old ADLC building.
"Having a presence there, being an anchor tenant, opens the door because the power and lights are on, and there is activity, encourages people to come there," he said. "By being the anchor tenant, we hope to attract other groups, organizations, and businesses to the building."
But Drozd said it would be up to those entities to negotiate a lease with the province, "We don't want to be in the position of being a landlord."
Drozd added while the municipality is interested in using the space, there will not be "a go/no go decision" anytime soon.
"We are just gathering information, and probably next fall, when the new council is elected, they will decide whether the municipality should renovate the building at the corner of 49th Street and 53rd Avenue or renovate a space in the ADLC building," he said.
Drozd said they've been in their current space since it was built in the 1960s, adding that they needed it because, at that time, schools were the county's responsibility.
However, when the Barrhead School Division became independent, it divided the building in half. In 1995, the Barrhead, Swan Hills, and Westlock school divisions amalgamated, forming the Pembina Hills School Division (PHSD).
Drozd noted that if either party decided to leave the building, the other party had the right of first refusal to purchase it.
He added although the municipality is no longer responsible for schools, they would still welcome a larger space.
Next Architecture Inc. estimates their current digs have roughly 6,000 square feet of usable space, but Drozd said the layout could be more efficient.
He added that the study shows that it would be easy to carve out the same or larger space in the old ADLC building and that they could design the space to better meet their present needs.
Town of Barrhead mayor Dave McKenzie said that although the municipality remains supportive of the county's efforts, relocating its municipal office to the old ADLC building would not benefit it.
"But we do see how having the building in play would be a good thing for the community and will still partner with the county to see what other uses the building could have," he said.
