Council allocates $25,000 to study future use of historic Gartshore farmhouse
Study will inform whether house should be used as office space or community space
FERGUS – Centre Wellington staff can’t decide exactly how to make use of Gartshore House, the historic farmhouse beside the new operations centre that’s under construction.
They just know it’s less expensive to update the interior of the house for office purposes rather than for community use, and at the March 23 council meeting, recommended further study to assess the upgrades that would be required for either option.
The original thought was the building could be for community use but now it is seen as a solution to the growing needs of the community services department.
As council recently approved prioritizing construction of a new multi-use recreation facility (MURF) on the Fergus sportsplex property, community use facilities could be constructed there instead.
The township had been using Gartshore House to house locum doctors at Groves Memorial Community Hospital. That was always to be a temporary measure and Gartshore House closed to that purpose when construction on the operations centre began.
After renovating property it owns on Union Street, the township now uses Craighead Cottage for locum health professionals and has signed a new agreement with the hospital.
Council heard the arguments for various uses of Gartshore House on March 23 and agreed to spend $25,000 to study the options.
