The Town of Sutton announced last Friday that it is temporarily removing the September deadline for the five organizations inhabiting the John Sleeth Community and Cultural Centre to relocate. Although the announcement framed the decision as a deadline extension, no specific new date has been offered for when the community organizations will need to be out of the building.
“The Council recognizes the importance of the built heritage of Sutton and the attachment of the population to its history,” said Mayor Michel Lafrance in a press release accompanying the announcement. “Its preservation has always been one of our values, subject however to the principles of sound management and the financial consequences for the Town and its taxpayers.”
Lafrance and Town Manager Pascal Smith told The Record on Feb 11 that no decision has been made whether the building will be demolished and rebuilt or renovated, but the call for the organizations to relocate while the decision was being reconsidered generated concern in the community due to a number of factors. Chief among these were the lack of functional rental spaces, the fact that the organizations are currently in the centre rent-free, and the town’s decision not to share the details to technical studies on the state of the building which had been conducted over the last several years.
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Sutton postpones deadline to vacate John Sleeth centre
By Gordon Lambie
