County of Brant staff updated Council on the status of the Brant Sports Complex expansion project during the regular Council meeting on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.
Back in 2025, Council approved a 38,000 square-foot expansion of the Brant Sports Complex.
The design includes a triple gymnasium, walking track, multi-purpose rooms, flexible changerooms, solar-ready infrastructure, backup power for emergency management, new building entrance and reception, and outdoor plaza, covered canopy and landscaping, additional parking and improved accessibility.
While originally estimated to be around $28.3-million, the price and plans for expansion have increased.
According to the staff report, the current program area has increased from 38,000 square-feet to 41,630 square-feet.
The report states, “This increase is primarily the result of detailed design refinements, including requirements for competitive volleyball, maintaining safe clearance around the walking track, providing adequate bleacher seating, and incorporating additional corridors needed to properly divide the gymnasium spaces.”
Key drivers of the increase include:
- Competitive volleyball requirements – Regulation court dimensions, run-off zones, and overhead clearance standards required additional floor area beyond the high-level concept.
- Walking track clearance – Ensuring safe separation between the track and expanded gym volume required adjustments that added square footage.
- Bleacher seating – Providing appropriate spectator capacity and circulation space increased the footprint.
- Additional corridors – Code-compliant egress routes and circulation needed for divided gym spaces were not fully captured in the original concept.
With an expanded project, comes a higher cost.
“The Brant Sports Complex Expansion project has progressed through detailed design, resulting in an updated Class “A” cost estimate of $30.94-million [including a five per cent design contingency and non-rebatable HST],” the report stated. “With $22.15-million already approved in the Long-Term Financial Plan and 2026 Capital Budget, the project currently faces a funding shortfall of approximately $8.8-million.”
To address the funding gap, staff have developed a multi-stream funding strategy and applied for grants under the federal government’s Building Community Strong Fund.
“On May 12, 2026, the County of Brant submitted an Expression of Interest to the Federal Government’s Build Communities Strong Fund. Included in the submission was a Project Overview Brochure and Class “A” Cost Estimate,” the report states. “On June 12, 2026, staff were notified that the Brant Sports Complex Expansion project has been selected for further consideration and invited to submit a priority application, due July 15, 2026. A key requirement of the funding is that projects must be shovel-ready and able to commence construction before the end of 2026.”
In addition to the update on the project, staff were requesting that in the case the County is successful in receiving funding, CAO Alison Newton be delegated authority to award the construction for the expansion project.
The authority would ensure that when Council is in recess or in a “lame duck” period, the County is still able to meet any required deadlines associated with accepting the funding.
During the meeting, Councillor John Bell asked Philip Mete, General Manager of Community Services, to clarify what the current funding model is.
“Right now the funding model is $5-million grant funding, a $1.15-million fundraising target through the community, $1.5-million in reserves, $7.7-million in development charges (DCs) reserves, $10.9-million in debt repaid by DCs, and almost $2-million in debt repaid by the tax levy, for a total of $28.3-million,” responded Mete. “That was the [price] the last time we were here. The new total now is $30.9-million.”
Bell then asked Mete to speak about what the tax levy impact would be now that the cost has gone up.
“Based on [if we get] the full $8.8-grant funding, we’ve updated the community fundraising to $2-million, the reserves to $1.5-million, DC reserves would be $7.7-million, debt repaid by DCs would be $10 million, and debt repaid by the tax levy would be $928,000 for a grand total of $30.94-million,” said Mete.
Bell said he was ultimately pleased that the impact of the tax levy portion would go down if they were successful in receiving the funding.
Mayor David Bailey later stated that he hoped Council would approve giving Newton the authority requested by staff.
“It would be terrible if we were in a lame duck situation and our CAO couldn’t react for us or accept and negotiate for us, so I’m hoping the council sees the value in this,” he said.
Council then voted to receive the update on the Brant Sports Complex, and grant CAO Newton the authority to award construction for the expansion project.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
