Ottawa Campus Would Shuffle Services

Now Playing

Wednesday, 21 January 2015 13:19

The proposed Ottawa satellite campus would occupy 5 County owned buildings in Courthouse Square.

OXFORD COUNTY - Oxford County council has released a closed session report regarding the University of Ottawa Woodstock French satellite campus proposal.

County staff listed a number of concerns surrounding the project which would shuffle Oxford County Council services and move Woodstock City Council meetings to the County Administrative Building.

The proposed University of Ottawa campus requires 70,000 square feet of space; the University is considering acquiring 5 County owned buildings in Courthouse Square that would fulfil 82% of the space needed for the campus. The County assumes the University would consider filling the remaining 18% with adjacent buildings or add building space to the Courthouse Square property which would involve severing a parcel of Courthouse Square.

The five County owned buildings in Courthouse Square total over 58,000 square feet of office space. Oxford County Public Health and Oxford County Archives occupy 3 buildings making up 55% of the 58,000 square feet of office space. The two other buildings included in the proposal are the former Children's Aid Society building at 92 Light Street and the Old Registry at 75 Graham Street. The CAS building is being used for Family Violence Counselling while the Old Registry is being used by the Oxford Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

Oxford County CAO Peter Crockett said talks will focus on maintaining the historicial value of the buildings being considered.

Replacing Occupied County Office Space

The report recommends moving Public Health services to an existing "rejuvenated" building in downtown Woodstock while the Oxford County archives would be moved to the OCAB. Another option involves partnering with the City of Woodstock to lease a refurbished Reg Hall.

Reg Hall

Originally a portion of the Reg Hall building was proposed to accommodate a portion of the University of Ottawa's space needs. The building would also have been used as office space for the City of Woodstock. However, City of Woodstock staff have stated their office space needs could be met if Woodstock City Council Chambers could be converted into office space. If Woodstock City Hall Council Chambers were converted to office space the proposal suggests making a joint agreement between the City of Woodstock and the County of Oxford to share the County Administrative Building Council chambers.

University of Ottawa Satellite Campus Information

The Woodstock campus is one of 13 potential university campus proposals on the table across the province.The campus would be a 'complete' campus- with a full program. Approximately 1000 students would attend the campus by 2020. Proposals were sent to the Province in September of 2014, Crockett says it's unclear when they would hear back from the province.

There are a number of reasons why Woodstock was determined to be a suitable location for the campus, "it's location, access to the market, the number of universities in the Southwestern Ontario area and from a university of Ottawa perspective the potential market for french language and french immersion programs," said Crockett. Currently the County of Oxford has a number of elementary to highschools offering french language programs.