Accelerate Muskoka says it has no problem competing with other proposals for the best use for the Waterloo Summit Centre for the Environment.
The issue was vigorously debated at Huntsville Council’s May 23rd meeting following a presentation by Accelerate Muskoka and a last ditch attempt by its proponents to put a proposal on the table. But council remained divided. Some said that the Town had been in talks with Accelerate Muskoka long enough. They argued it was time to open the building to other proposals and see what other offers might be out there. While others, especially Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison, urged that Accelerate Muskoka be given another chance before going out for an RFP, given their vision and the amount of work the proponents had already put into the project. In the end, a motion to hold off on going out for an RFP for another month and continue talks with Accelerate Muskoka squeaked by with the Mayor’s vote breaking the tie.
I’ve talked to a few members of council and I don’t like the fact that it was a divided decision. I think that smacks of what it was like a few years ago, and I don’t like that. Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison, referring to a split at council on how to proceed with trying to fill the Waterloo building
“I think it behooves us to make sure that if we do in fact go with them [Accelerate Muskoka], that it not necessarily be unanimously supported by council, but at least supported by a majority of council so that if it does happen, it’s a positive thing as opposed to a negative thing,” said Aitchison, who would also not say whether he would in fact support issuing a new RFP.
What Accelerate Muskoka is saying
In the meantime, Tom Pinckard, one of the directors for Accelerate Muskoka said discussions have taken place with the Mayor and Accelerate Muskoka has indicated that it is amenable to resubmitting its bid under a new RFP. “We said we’re happy to do that because there’s no point in us going forward if we don’t have 100 per cent of council and 100 per cent support of the community.”
What we’re saying is go ahead, go out for a new proposal and we’ll compete in the market place like everybody else. We believe we’ve got the best proposal by far and I think we meet the test and we’re happy to enter into a new RFP. Hopefully when we get to the end of the process, we have unanimous support. Tom Pinckard, one of the directors with Accelerate Muskoka
The prospect of attracting clean-tech environmental companies to Muskoka makes a lot of sense and excitement for the project has been mounting, according to David Smith, one of Accelerate Muskoka’s founders. The idea of a business incubator model has been kicking around for some time. In 2015, the Town issued an RFP for the building and Accelerate Muskoka came knocking, but it wasn’t ready. It had been trying to get the Ministry of the Environment aboard as an anchor tenant by moving the Dorset Science Centre into the building.
Smith said he knows firming up the project has taken a long time. “When we originally put the proposal together it was based on one anchor tenant but since then, we’ve now got multiple tenants that would work out just as well for us as one major anchor tenant.”
Aitchison has been championing the project for some time, even before becoming mayor.He was on council when the building was constructed and maintains Accelerate Muskoka’s project is a close fit with what the Waterloo Summit Centre for the Environment was built for in the first place. “Ultimately, [Accelerate Muskoka] will help us leverage that building into something that at least comes half way maybe to meeting the original objectives of the building and why the Federal Government was convinced to spend $10 million in the first place. And that includes research, it includes science, it includes education and so I just feel compelled to make sure that we’ve exhausted every effort to achieve those original goals,” he said,
Those original goals, according to former Huntsville Mayor Claude Doughty, who was the mayor when the building was constructed, were born with the Town’s visioning process when it was preparing its Unity Plan. At the time, he said consultations with the community about the vision for Huntsville identified education as one of the top priorities. He said the initial contact with the University of Waterloo was made by Education Huntsville and it was that group that brought the university to the table.
I remember the time they came to my house and we chatted about it. Those were heady days obviously, because there was so much going on. Former Huntsville Mayor Claude Doughty, referring to the G8 Summit of world leaders coming to Huntsville and Education Huntsville’s push to bring the University of Waterloo to Town
“When Education Huntsville basically delivered the Waterloo interest, that just joined all the dots for us,” recalled Doughty. He said the initial vision was to add a small facility on the river side of the Canada Summit Centre for the university, but that vision grew as meetings with the dean of the university’s environmental science department were held.
“So it went from a small addition on the side of the Summit Centre facing the river to a larger addition on the back side of the Summit Centre to its own building,” he recalled. “We were really pleased that they were this committed to Huntsville… the president of Waterloo and the dean of the environmental department were both four squares behind us and that was it for us. That was our objective in spades. I mean, to get the University of Waterloo – we were elated.”
He said the Town managed to get the Feds to fund the construction of the building, meant to also be used during the summit. Its construction was funded through a G8 Summit legacy fund, while the municipality committed to looking after the civil infrastructure such as roads, water, sewer and the like. He said for the Town the ultimate goal was to develop a campus and there was room to construct additional buildings on the land. “We would build it and it would be a full-time, post-secondary education facility,” he recalled.
The Town retained ownership of the building and bent over backwards to keep the university initiative going by leasing the building to the university for just a dollar. You can find that story here.
Anchor tenant pulls out of the building
But as fate would have it, the university’s administration changed and with it its goals for the Waterloo Summit Centre for the Environment. The university pulled out of the building last month, which means the Town is now under the gun to come up with a solid plan for the building.
Doughty said he’s lost a lot of sleep over the University of Waterloo’s withdrawal. In terms of a business accelerator model, he said during his time as Mayor the municipality looked at bringing that component into the building and studied the one in Waterloo, which is associated with the university.
“That was our doing back in the day. I went to Waterloo a number of times talking with the accelerator down there and looking into doing an accelerator in Huntsville with that building. We put in a lot of work on the potential of doing an accelerator here and that didn’t materialize,” said Doughty, adding that the municipality found it difficult to make a business case for it. He said some of the players back then are now involved with Accelerate Muskoka’s new proposal.
“If they’re going to cover the operating cost, that’s a good deal for the Town,” said Doughty, who also warned that it is a difficult business model to achieve. But, he said, “those people are serious players and if they can make it work, good for them and good for Huntsville. But I think council has got to look at everything in front of them. You know, I’ve lost a lot of sleep over the failure of Waterloo to live up to their commitment.” Doughty said he understands why the university pulled out. “I mean they’re running a business too… but at the same time, it sure would’ve been great to have the vision completed.”
The issue is expected to make its way back to the council table at council’s June 26 meeting.
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Hugh Mackenzie says
Happy to see the turnaround. It is the best way to move forward.