Old OTHS Restoration

The Town has been unsuccessful securing a federal grant for repurposing the old Oakville Trafalgar High School building as the permanent home of the Oakville Galleries' renowned art collection.  Future plans include cleaning it up, painting and improved fencing while we wait for direction on a grant from the Province. Barring that – new uses for the building will likely be entertained 

In his State of the Town address on 20 October (click here - scroll to minute 4.:25 for the start) Mayor Rob Burton committed to completing the project to repurpose the old OT High School building 

 “We also have the heritage designated Oakville Trafalgar High School that we need to repurpose and reuse in some adaptive way. When you are a champion of heritage preservation like we are, it means that you can’t have a heritage designated building boarded up forever. I am calling on Council to work with me to get that project completed.”  

Mayor Rob Burton writes:  Oakville projects overlooked for funding.

"My Council colleagues and I are disappointed to share that our community was overlooked for funding in the Culture and Recreation stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
 

Last fall Oakville applied for funding under the 2020 budget submission to, amongst other things, renovate the old Oakville Trafalgar High School building on the former hospital lands as gallery space, and to complete the south parcel of North Park Sports Park to include soccer and multi-use fields, cricket pitch, BMX and skateboard facilities, leash-free dog zone, splash pad and other park amenities.
 

My thanks go out to Oakville Members of Parliament Minister Anita Anand and MP Pam Damoff who both advocated for Oakville’s projects with their provincial counterparts.
 

As we look ahead to other funding options we are encouraged by the support of both Minister Anand and MP Damoff.  We know our MPPs Effie Triantafilopoulos and  Stephen Crawford always have the best interest of Oakville and its residents in mind."

The Oakville galleries Og2, with an internationally renowned art collection, has been seeking a location for several years to bring its collection under one roof, to showcase additional collections that it does not have space for today, and to allow it to continue to support community programs. 

It has come forward with a proposal to restore the old OTHS to museum-standard - estimated at $34 million. A significant amount of the capital may be available through the Ministry of Infrastructure, “Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program’s (ICIP Community, Culture and Recreation)”. The Town has partnered with the Og2 in its application for a grant under the Infrastructure Program and has committed to providing $3.1 million towards the project. The balance would have to be raised through a major funding campaign.

The TCRA supports this exciting concept. We believe that it would be a great use of the old OTHS building, preserving it as an asset for the whole Town. We think that the Oakville Galleries can successfully raise the necessary funds through a combination of government grants and private donations. Click here for details from the Town’s Special Council Meeting on November 5, 2019.