Town seeking community input on Humber River Centre programming

January 11, 2024 · 0 Comments

Grand opening ceremony for centre is currently being planned

By ZACHARY ROMAN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Town of Caledon is looking to engage with residents about what kinds of programs and services they’d like to see offered in the Humber River Centre.

The Humber River Centre is located in Downtown Bolton and is described by the Town as a “sustainable, accessible facility designed to house community events, arts and cultural initiatives, business support services, coworking space and more.”

While it is not yet officially open, some sneak preview tours of the space were given during last December’s Christmas in the Valley event.

The Town is currently in the process of finalizing details for a Humber River Centre grand opening ceremony to be held in February of this year.

In the meantime, it’s encouraging residents to complete a survey about the Humber River Centre on its community engagement website, haveyoursaycaledon.ca. The survey closes on January 29, and residents are asked to complete it by then.

Those who prefer an in-person approach may want to attend a focus group the Town is holding soon. From 8 to 9 a.m. on January 24 (doors open at 7:30 a.m.) residents and business owners can meet with Town of Caledon staff in the Humber River Centre’s multi-purpose room to share their ideas and vision for the space. Coffee and light refreshments will be served.

Registration for the focus group is on haveyoursaycaledon.ca. Those who can’t make the focus group but are interested in an in-person or phone interview about the space can email business@caledon.ca to make arrangements.

Amanda St. John, Caledon’s Manager of Business Attraction and Investment, explained that Caledon Council has directed Town staff to include business support services in the Humber River Centre, and that the engagement work staff are doing right now is to ensure those support services meet the needs of Caledon business owners and entrepreneurs.

“We want to make sure we are meeting a real need in the community… what specifically does the community want to see here?” said St. John.

The Humber River Centre is located on Ann Street in what was formerly the Old Bolton Fire Hall, a 10,000 square foot building relatively close to the busy intersection of King and Queen streets.

Renovations of the building began in April 2022, a month after Caledon Council determined the space would be named the Humber River Centre. In January 2023, Brampton East MP Maninder Sidhu, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Caledon Mayor Annette Groves announced federal funding of up to $7.7 million was being given to the Town for the project.

“We would like to thank Infrastructure Canada for this critical funding that will help transform our old fire hall into an energy efficient, low carbon community space that will enhance the lives of residents, community groups and underserved populations,” said Groves in a media release at the time. “The Humber River Centre will showcase climate resilient architecture and is a testament to our dedication towards reducing emissions and taking climate action.”

According to the Town, the funding supported sustainable renovations to the space, including: LED lighting, air source heat pumps and energy recovery ventilators, more insulative windows and doors, increased roof insulation, on-demand electric water heaters and a building automation system.

These sustainable building improvements will reduce the building’s greenhouse gas emissions by 29.5 tonnes per year and fuel consumption by 56.2 per cent, according to the Town.

Town Communications staff noted the Humber River Centre will also be home to the Caledon Chamber of Commerce.

“The goal of the facility is to create a space that inspires creativity, fosters local innovation, and provides support to the Caledon business and entrepreneurship community to achieve actions identified in the Downtown Bolton Revitalization Plan and Caledon Economic Development Strategy,” said staff in an email to the Citizen.