Mill Courtland Community Centre Expansion

We are seeking expressions of interest from artists who live and work in Waterloo Region to create a public art commission for the centre.

We invite artists or artist teams to apply for consideration by a project jury. This is the first stage in a three-stage competition. Jurors will select the preferred candidates from expressions of interest received. Short-listed artists will be paid to produce and present site-specific proposals in stage two. Stage three will ask for the public’s input to select one of up to three finalists chosen by the jury.

The call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) is open to:

• established artists or artist teams based in Waterloo Region

• with experience creating public art and/or participatory artwork with the community

Jurors will give preference to submissions from artists or teams with equity-deserving representation. We strive to reflect citizens’ cultures in the City’s public art collection.

For more information or to apply, visit the call for proposals

If you have any questions, please contact Eric Rumble, Coordinator arts and creative industries, at eric.rumble@kitchener.ca or 519-741-2345 (TTY: 1-866-969-9994).

Thank you to everyone who took part in the workshops and surveys to develop the business plan for the Mill Courtland expansion. Council approve the final business case report this spring. If you are interested in reading the report or viewing the meeting, please visit Community and Infrastructure Services Committee meeting (April 3, 2023).

We are now moving to Phase 2, working on a detailed design for the community centre’s expansion. This will include planning to update some of the building’s aging infrastructure, so that construction can happen all at once. We will hire an architect to join the project team and continue to work closely with the neighbourhood association throughout.

During this phase of the project, we will:

• Identify critical and priority elements from the business case that fit within the budget and site limitations
• Develop concept designs that outline the changes to the centre
• Complete project budgeting followed by permitting and approvals
• Create a final detailed design including technical drawings, specifications, and schedules to guide the construction process

The project page was updated with a new description to reflect our progress and clarify the phases of the project development.

We continue to use this page to share updates on the design and development of the centre’s expansion. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to get email newsletters from us. Add your email to the Stay Informed box then click ‘Subscribe’.

We contracted Jay Pitter Placemaking to lead the first phase of this work. The agency developed a comprehensive business case with some elements of a master plan. The scope of this work included but was not limited to the following:

• Leading a series of story-based and broader community engagement initiatives
• Facilitating community design charettes
• Developing high-level design guidelines and concept sketches
• Conducting a site and neighbourhood analysis, and
• Developing an economic and sustainability plan to guide the expansion of the site.

Ms. Pitter and her team were deeply invested in the community centre's distinct grassroots history. They coordinated with:

• City of Kitchener staff
• Local neighbourhood associations and community groups
• Individuals and families living in the neighbourhood, and
• Broader City of Kitchener stakeholder groups.

Community members had many opportunities to participate in the process through local walks, sharing stories about the community centre and contributing design ideas. The main questions that guided this process included:

• What's most important to you about the community centre?
• How can the centre and its outdoor spaces enhance quality of life for all community members?
• What physical, social and/or economic barriers do you experience when accessing the community centre?
• How can the community centre expansion accommodate existing community members while welcoming future community members?

Thank you to those who took part. Your contributions will have an impact on the programs, services, indoor and outdoor spaces at the centre for years to come.

On Saturday, Sept 10 Jay Pitter Placemaking held a community engagement open house at the Mill Courtland Community Centre to seek feedback on a set of design idea boards as part of the business case and hybrid master plan process. Feedback will be continue to be collected on these boards at the MCCC itself where they will remain on display until Sept 30, 2022 and through the Engage Kitchener page.

You can view the boards by downloading them here and are able to leave your feedback as a comment to this newsfeed post.

It's important to note that not all the ideas presented on the boards will be included in the final business case and represent a menu of options that have resulted from Jay Pitter's equitable placemaking and design approaches, research that University of Waterloo urban planning students have done, and community contributions.

While all ideas will be considered, final decisions will be made on expressed community priorities, available budget, and existing municipal policies. Also, images displayed are for visualization purposes only and do not represent final designs.

We are asking the community to respond to three questions on each boards:

1. Which equitable placemaking and design concepts resonate with you?
2. Which equitable placemaking and design concepts concern you?
3. Which equitable placemaking and design concepts would you like to add?

Join us at the Mill Courtland Community Centre to explore high-level placemaking and design concepts for the centre’s expansion.

Centring Jay Pitter's equitable placemaking and design approaches, and community contributions, University of Waterloo Urban Planning students contributed images and precedents to help local stakeholders collectively visualize their future community centre. We are committed to deeply considering the community's preferences, priorities and concerns. We also welcome additional insights and ideas.

Date: Saturday, September 10, 2022

Time: 1:00pm – 4:00pm

Where: Mill Courtland Community Centre

Following this engagement with lead consultant, Jay Pitter and her team, the display boards will be up at the community centre for a month and a digital document will be posted online to extend engagement.

Thank you to everyone who shared their stories with us earlier this year as part of the Mill Courtland Community Centre Expansion project!

Jay Pitter has prepared a report with a summary of the stories that were gathered and key themes. A copy of the report is available on this page.

Read the report