NEWS RELEASE
TOWN OF EAST GWILLIMBURY
***************************
Almost one year after the completion of the Operations Centre, the Town of East Gwillimbury hosted the official opening celebration, featuring a Town vehicle touch-a-truck display, facility tours, activities, free barbecue and interactive booths, highlighting the role of some of our operational departments.
The 57,000-square-foot facility is located at 19850 Woodbine Ave. and is the town’s largest capital project to date. It is the home to the departments responsible for maintaining critical town infrastructure and core services such as roads, fleet, water and wastewater, parks, facilities and emergency services. Over 120 full-time and seasonal staff work out of the facility throughout the year.
The facility is on a 20-acre site and has a modern look with various efficient and environmental features, which include collaborative meeting areas, state-of-the-art training space, 15,000-square-foot sand and salt dome, electronic vehicle charging stations, white roof technology, a 1400-square-foot greenhouse, and a tree farm. The building also houses the town’s emergency operations centre.
“I’m so glad that we were able to gather as a community to celebrate this milestone in our town’s history,” said Mayor Virginia Hackson. “Having the right infrastructure in place to support East Gwillimbury as it grows will allow us to build on the great work our staff teams are doing to maintain our town. We’ve needed this facility for many years, and council is especially proud that it was built at no cost to our residents.”
The town broke ground on the operations centre in the summer of 2019. Strasman architects designed the building and Percon Construction Incorporated and built the facility. The project cost $22.5 million to complete and was funded entirely through development charges with no cost to the taxpayer. Development charges play an important role in our growing community. They are used to recover costs associated with residential and non-residential growth and fund the cost of growth-related capital costs for services such as parks, recreation, roads, and infrastructure.
The project was completed on time and under budget with minimal delays due to COVID. To facilitate this project, Woodbine Avenue was widened in front of the facility in partnership with the York Region. To learn more about this project, visit the website.
About the Town of East Gwillimbury
The Town of East Gwillimbury is Canada’s fastest growing municipality (with more than 5,000 residents), according to 2021 Census Canada data. The town provides several programs and services to approximately 36,000 residents while maintaining more than 80 percent of its green space. Visit the website to learn more about the Town,.
***************************
