Million-dollar renovation planned for Schomberg Community Hall

Hall no longer complies with current accessibility and safety standards

Yorkregion.com
May 23, 2019
Sheila Wang

The century-old Schomberg Community Hall is going to close its door for a while, but only for the better.

King Township council approved a renovation and revitalization plan for the community hall at a council meeting on May 13.

The $1-million project is expected to restore all areas of the two-storey facility and add an elevator to ensure the building accessible for all users, while maintaining its heritage character.

“It’s time for a refresh,” Charles Cooper, head of the Schomberg Village Association, a volunteer community organization. “It’s very important to us. It gets used an awful lot but it needs work.”

Cooper said the association and six other community groups have been working with the township on the Schomberg Main Street revitalization committee since February 2018.

As a frequently-used facility located in the heart of Main Street Schomberg, the community hall is no longer in compliance with the current accessibility and safety standards, he added.

For example, the second floor is not accessible for people with disabilities, and both the stairs and kitchen have been worn down by constant use over the decades.

“It’s served more or less for 100 years as a bit of community building and so forth,” said local historian Bill Foran. “I would say it’s certainly good to make it a much easier facility to accommodate the handicapped, older folks and everyone in the community.”

The tired-looking cement structure, built in 1907, had its better days in the early 1900s when it was not only a popular community gather place and a busy market place for the Schomberg community. The second floor was put on top in 1922 in order to meet the growing community needs, according to excerpts from Early Settlements of King Township.

While other small-scale facilities have continued to decline in usage year over year, the statistics show the usage of the Schomberg Community Hall has increased over the period of 2014-2018, according to the staff report.
In 2017 alone, the hall was rented out for more than 1,100 hours, Cooper said.

The renovation project, originally planned in the 2020-2021 capital budget, is now set to begin this summer, as staff recommended.

While mostly funded through the infrastructure reserves of the township, the project also received a $100,000 grant through the Enabling Accessibility Fund from the federal government.

As a condition to accept the grant, the funding must be spent between May 13, 2019 and May 13, 2020.

The facility is expected to close from June 2019 and June 2020, which may result in the cancellation of numerous rentals.

The closure may impact a number of community events as well, including Schomberg Street Gallery, A Main Street Christmas and the Schomberg Agricultural Fair.

Staff plan to meet with the affected organizations to find a solution.