I can’t help but wonder if council had not voted to proceed with the community hub project, whether we would be relocating Fire Station 1 from its current location. 

I know, I know!  

I’ve heard that such a move had been in the cards for some time, but was it really necessary and had such a move ever been approved by council? 

After all, a report released in the fall of 2023 stated it would cost a measly $6.8 million to “address the deficiencies” in the building that were a result of needed repairs which had not been undertaken. 

These days, particularly in Chatham-Kent with our endlessly deep taxpayer pockets, $6.8 million is just chump change! 

In that report, by architect ROA Studio Inc., it was also noted that it would be an estimated $27.7 million to address similar needs at the Civic Centre. 

Now, as you may recall, back in 2022, a group of local developers/investors unveiled an incredibly ambitious project called Imagine Chatham-Kent that would have transformed the former Downtown Chatham Centre, merging the Civic Centre, Chatham Public Library and the Cultural Centre (excluding the Kiwanis Theatre) into one community hub. 

That would have been the first of three phases, the other two of which would have included a 4,000-seat arena/entertainment complex and a building which would house both residential and commercial space. 

Sadly, as we all know by now, that project was scaled back, and by 2023 the arena/entertainment portion of the project had been........

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