Some of the funds for the transit portion of the project will be coming via the federal government’s infrastructure program. In August, the province announced it had nominated five projects, including a new transit facility, for the program.

According to the report, it's estimated that $34.7 million of the cost would stem from those infrastructure dollars, with the remainder being split between development charges ($58.2 million) and tax reserve funds ($99 million).

Some spending could begin as soon as next year, with the newly released capital budget containing a number of items related to the project.

Pending council approval, city staff are seeking $5.5 million for site preparation on Dunlop and $5.73 million toward the new transit operations facility that would be built there.

Vilkko said that should council vote in favour of the 2020 capital budget, that work would start in the new year.

‘Operating inefficiencies and potential hazards’

According to the staff report, part of the rationale behind a centralized campus is that a number of city departments don't have enough room to accommodate their staff and vehicles.

While the city has built on to current facilities, the report considers these Band-Aid solutions, as the “current size and condition constraints of these buildings are causing operating inefficiencies and potential hazards for staff and visitors due to conflicts with vehicle and equipment overcrowding in the yards and bays.”

The report adds that, as many of the buildings being replaced were built decades ago in the 1960s, they are reaching the “end of their useful life.”

“It was evident that most of the operations facilities buildings require significant investment to ensure they are up to current codes,” the report says, citing building condition assessments conducted last year.

“Despite significant investments toward the upkeep of these facilities, the city would still be faced with the inability to expand due to unavailability of additional lands in the vicinity.”

“Operational facility capacity constraints have been identified for some time which initiated the operational facility needs assessment study in 2018,” Vilkko added in his email.

The need for new operations facilities has been identified in the city’s capital forecasts in past years. For example, a new operations facility for Guelph Transit was identified in last year’s capital forecast, with an expected cost of $80 million at some point between 2024 and 2028.

Vilkko said the additional $6.8 million in this new proposal is due to the addition of infrastructure for electric buses.

The staff report adds that with Guelph's growing population — expected to see the addition of 60,000 people in the next 25 years — the operational needs of the city are also changing, necessitating the new campus.

“Increased urban density throughout the city will also require additional staff, vehicles and equipment, thus necessitating larger sites and facilities for the city’s operations departments,” the report says.

“Additionally, there will likely be greater traffic, which will affect the travel time for staff and equipment to and from operations facilities throughout the city and further justifies the benefit for a centralized campus.”

The report further says that, because of an aging population, residents will have “higher service expectations which will also increase the demand for higher service levels.”

City council or going out to vote

While council meetings are typically on Mondays, the Oct. 21 date for this special meeting may ring some bells for some readers — it is also the date of the federal election.

City clerk Stephen O’Brien told the Mercury Tribune that while the city tries to avoid scheduling meetings on election days, there is no “hard and fast rule” preventing it.

O’Brien added that council and committee meeting dates are scheduled a year in advance, and that Oct. 21 had been locked in as a placeholder in the event of a special meeting needing to be called.

“The other challenge we have, that I would add to this, is that it is very difficult to find dates to move things around,” he said. “So when the writs are issued and the election date is determined, by that time it’s difficult to move things around.”

O’Brien said those wanting to take part in the Oct. 21 council meeting will still have plenty of time to vote before then.

“We recognized this is a significant topic. The great thing is there's advanced polls this weekend for people to get out and vote this weekend and over Thanksgiving,” the clerk said.

“(The meeting) will be later in the evening. … Hopefully, folks will have been out and voted before six o’clock.”

As for why this matter is coming to council at this time, Vilkko said it is because of the city's capital budget.

With discussions starting Oct. 23, he said this information is "needed background for recommendation" of that spending plan.

Vilkko added that because of the rotating priorities for council meetings — infrastructure development and enterprise matters one month, then public and corporate services the next — it made it difficult to schedule this issue on council's agenda.

"September was a PS/CS focus month, and there was a special meeting for the Baker redevelopment in September. Council does not meet in August, and this information was not ready in July," he said.

"That made this a difficult report to schedule, especially as we know it will involve discussion and would not fit, time wise, into the regular meetings, but council needs to discuss this before the capital budget presentation."