The City of Thorold has officially opened its second City Hall on Carleton St. South, where Thorold residents can obtain building permits and land use planning applications.
The decision to move some staff over to a second location didn’t come overnight. The main City Hall building on Schmon Parkway has been at capacity for a while, so the need to find a place for new employees to hang their hat each day was long overdue, says the city's top bureaucrat.
“From my perspective, over the past few years, the city has grown quite extensively, and we know that this trend will continue for the foreseeable future,” Chief Administrative Officer Manoj Dilwaria told ThoroldToday. “City Hall has been at capacity for some time, so additional space was needed for staff to function efficiently.”
So, at the start of December, Building and Planning staff – about 15 employees – moved from Schmon Parkway to 8 Carleton St. South. Ironically enough, the building used to be the home of Thorold City Hall until 2006, when the council of the day under Mayor Robin Brock approved – what was then – a controversial move to its current location at 3540 Schmon Parkway.
The first floor of the Carleton St. South building has been the home of the Thorold 50+ Association ever since, while the second floor has mainly been used for storage.
As the city continued to grow over the next two decades, space at Schmon Parkway slowly started running out.
“Our building inspectors were all crammed into one boardroom,” Dilwaria said. “They were all functioning from there. We did what we needed to do to survive during that time.”
Director of Development Services Jason Simpson agreed with Dilwaria and said work began a few years ago on how to find more space.
“Discussions regarding alternative office accommodations began in 2022 as City Hall no longer had the space to accommodate all staff,” he said. “Various options were considered and reviewed. Ultimately, council approved renovations to 8 Carleton St. South in 2023.”
Mountainview Construction Inc. was awarded the contract to complete the renovation work with a bid just shy of $700,000, excluding HST.
“A variety of other options were considered, however, utilizing the second floor of 8 Carleton St. South was the most cost effective and sustainable long-term choice,” Simpson said. “The building was already owned by the City of Thorold and therefore operating costs already existed. The relocation of the two divisions to existing vacant space utilizes an underutilized asset.”
Although those costs are expected to increase, now that the space is being used, Simpson said.
“However, these costs would exist in any location. Specific operating costs are unknown at this time as the second floor has remained vacant for several years.”
The costs of the new building will be monitored over the 2025 calendar year.
