The Ministry of Canadian Heritage has indicated that the City can commence work on the project, however, only expenses incurred after submittal of the application are eligible for funding. It should be noted that if the City is unsuccessful with its application that the Ministry will not fund any of these expenditures and they would be the City’s responsibility.

To ensure that sufficient funding is available to complete this project in the event the City is unsuccessful in our grant application for $3,032,066, Administration has also recommended the following City funding sources be approved:

Pre-commitments of $632,066 in 2024 Pay-As-You-Go funding from the Central Riverfront Park Improvements project, and;

$1,350,000 from the PYG funding reserve.

$1,050,000 in placeholder funding for Paul Martin Building (CAO-001-16) be directed to the Celestial Beacon Streetcar project and that those funds be deemed pre-committed for immediate use on January 1, 2021 when it is within the required 5-year timeframe.

It should be noted that because the funding strategy recommends the use of future funding dollars, financing charges have been accounted for within the budget.

Operational Cost

All operating cost for the site and the New Celestial Beacon will be referred to future operating budgets.

Maintenance responsibility for the facility will be shared amongst Parks, Recreation, Culture, and Facilities, and is estimated at a total of approximately $37,000 annually. The information below outlines the allocation to each division and the type of general cost expectations.

The Facilities department anticipates requiring an operating budget of approximately $23,000 per year for maintenance of the building envelope & structure, building systems, and exterior elements such as lighting, plumbing and paving.

Cleaning of the interior and exterior of the building, and maintenance of exterior landscaping and green roof will be performed by the Parks department. They anticipate requiring an operating budget of approximately $14,700 per year for maintenance of the terraces, green roof, cleaning of the washrooms, snow removal and ongoing surrounding park and parking lot maintenance.

Curating, event services, and concessions will be provided by the Recreation & Culture department.

Although difficult to estimate the capital needs of such a new facility, the potential exists for some additional capital costs to maintain the building over the next 42 years. As always, building systems can exceed their life expectancy, or fail early. Building condition assessments are planned at 5-year intervals, and capital needs will be