VENUE VOTE - Please Read ASAP | The Employee by Joshua Schwebel

Board of Directors <board@forestcitygallery.com> To: ███████ █████████ <███████████████████████████ >, alayna hryclik <███████████████████████ >, Alexandra Jaworiwsky <████████████████████ >, Alexia Hlynialuk <████████████████████ >, ██████ ████████ < █████████████████████████ >, Anahi Gonzalez Teran <███████████████ >, ██████ ██████ <████████████████████████████ >, Anna Carroll <████████████████████████ >, Forest CityGallery <director@forestcitygallery.com>, Hailey Edge <████████████████████ >, Hannah Elias <██████████████████████████████ >, Applicant 7 <███████████████████ >, Meg Spindler <██████████████████████ >, Michelle Beckett <██████████████████ >, Sara Mai Chitty <█████████████████████ >, Sarah Feehan <█████████████████████████ >, ███ ███████ <█████████████████ > Cc: Mike Pszczonak <███████████████████████ >, Kim Neudorf < ████████████████████ >, The Employee <employee@forestcitygallery.com>

Fri, Jul 16, 2021 at 9:02 AM

Good morning all,

Apologies for the delay in this vote - and for the length of this email but TRUST ME you will want to read to the very end.

Hailey worked incredibly hard this week to track down as much info as possible and she finally found someone at the city who could give us some really concrete feedback. Here are Hailey's notes from her meeting on Wednesday:

I spoke to Melissa Campbell, Duty Planner for the City of London as to what would be specifically required in order to make the zoning of 1161 Florence suitable for our uses. Melissa made it clear to me that the only route we could take to update the zoning to include studio/gallery/artisan workshop would be to apply for a zoning bylaw amendment or an official plan amendment. None of the "loophole" amendments apply to our situation, so this would be the only route we could take in order to have FCG legally reside at the 1161 Florence. This is important because correct zoning is required for approval of both sign permits and construction permits.

FCG would have to complete a pre-application consultation ($261.89 non-refundable) which would assess the risks of the building including additional zone uses. Once this consultation is completed (1-2 weeks) FCG would receive a list of risks (future plans for this area) that could affect the way FCG would occupy this space. If everything looked positive FCG would then have to move forward with either a zoning bylaw amendment ($11,500) or an official plan amendment ($20,000) determined by the pre-application consultation. Once paid the case would then be brought before the Planning and Environment Committee who would collaboratively determine if FCG's tenancy in this building would majorly infringe on any future city development plans (7 months). The Planning and Environment Committee then comes to a decision and returns to FCG determining whether or not they will grant the zone amendment.

Ultimately, Melissa advised that FCG not pursue the space. On top of legal advice from Meg's dad, we cannot ask you or any future FCG Director and Board of Directors to deal with the fall out of a space that they did not sign on for that is likely to run into bylaw or zoning problems later down the line. We wanted to make it work, and I'm sorry that it's been a long drawn out process to explore this as an option, but moving forward could mean a very significant hit to future FCG operations.

This new Google Form is to record the vote to CANCEL the June Board meeting's approval to move to 1161 Florence Street. Please make your vote ASAP: https://docs.google.com/forms/#redacted

But wait, there's more ...

Just as Hailey was talking with Melissa, Sara Mai happened to be talking to someone too and a new space was mentioned next to Odyssey Records and across the Street from Anderson Brewery. You can ask Sara Mai for the story when you see her on Tuesday, but for now, here is the Realtor listing: https://www.royallepage.ca/en/property/ontario/london/1025-elias-street/15268657/mls40128104/?redirect=1

Sara Mai sent along our Business Plan that the Venue Committee put together and here is the email back from the landlord:

After reviewing your business plan and giving a little more thought I strongly believe that this could be a fantastic fit for the Elias space. A quick background on myself; I am part owner and operator at Art East which is a custom picture framing shop located at Princess ave and Dorinda. Art East is a family run business that started in the basement of my family home in 1986, my Dad is still involved with the business. My Dad and I purchased the building that Art East is Located almost 5 years ago and one year later purchased the neighbouring building 1025 Elias St. Originally Elias was completely empty and had been that way for several years... it was a big purchase but we recognized the progress that was happening around us. Starting with Junction, then Andersons, Brew Co-op etc... Now of course not to mention everything going on at the old Kellogs! We worked with Odyssey on creating a space that works for him and Justin has been a great addition to the area and to the building. Odyssey Records is the fit were looking for in the Building.
About the space available: The space is 2,552 Sq' and I believe tick off a lot of your requirements (gallery, office, storage etc..) however updating will be needed. My Dad and I would be willing to accommodate to your needs and prepare the space accordingly, we can further discuss those details on site. In addition, we feel that there is enough of your business profile that fit into the Li1 and Li7 London Zone but will need to conduct some further research and have more discussion.
Is there a day and time that works for you to meet on location?
Thanks,
Adam

I don't want to get our hopes up, but Teresa, Hailey and I will go to the space on Tuesday afternoon to meet with Adam and explain our limitations and plans for the space. Right now, at ~$12 /sq ft the rent would not be that far off from what we would have collectively paid at Florence Street AND we might be able to put in artist studios to offset that cost.

So where does that leave us?

Since the Board will be gathered on Tuesday evening for our Towards Braiding work, we will give you an update on the space. If it seems feasible and that Adam and his dad could accommodate our needs, we will set up a Venue Committee meeting next week to determine how to move forward there. If it does not seem feasible, then we will vote to stay at 258 Richmond Street.

Thank you for reading to the end. I know this is a long one. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Best,

Alex

Board of Directors
Forest City Gallery
258 Richmond St
London, Ontario N6B 2H7
519.434.5875
www.forestcitygallery.com