The Municipality of Meaford is on the verge of selling the old fire hall to the Stanley Knight Heritage Society.

Meaford council held a public meeting concerning an Official Plan Amendment and a zoning bylaw amendment for the fire hall property at its planning meeting held on Monday night.

Both amendments were passed by council after no opposition to the proposal emerged at the public meeting. The Official Plan Amendment classes the property as Downtown Core Commercial Designation. The zoning amendment zones the property as Institutional with a site-specific exception allowing a residential apartment on the upper floor.

The Municipality of Meaford has been wrestling with what to do with the fire hall for a number of years. The Meaford Fire Department moved out of the cramped facility after the renovation of Meaford Hall began.

Since that time the debate has focused about what to do with the building. Its unique architecture and historical background made it difficult for council to simply sell off the property.

The proposal before council on Monday night appears to be a solution that is the best of both worlds.

The Stanley Knight Heritage Society intends to utilize the first floor of the building as a historic archive. The primary use will be storing general historic materials. The Society will also utilize the first floor for its general meetings. On occasion, the Society will host a tour of the facility during 'open door' events. During those events the building will be accessible to the public to view the general historic artifacts.

The second floor of the building will remain a residential apartment. As part of the proposal the municipality had to sever off the lot the fire hall is located on in order to separate that property from the other municipal property (the municipally owned land on which the fire hall, Meaford Hall and Market Square reside is considered in planning terms to be a single entity) in the same area.

Heritage Society proponent Ron Knight attended the public meeting Monday night, but did not speak to the issue.

Meaford council received a thorough planning report from a planning consultant about the matter. Town Planner Liz Buckton said no objections to the proposal had been raised. In addition, the proposal conformed with Grey County's Official Plan, the Municipality's Official Plan and provincial planning policies.

There were no comments from the public at the meeting about the proposal.

After the meeting Mayor Francis Richardson said he was pleased to see that a private owner would maintain the old fire hall.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for a historical family in Meaford. They have been so interested in our history and preserving our history," said Mayor Richardson.

The Mayor said he couldn't comment on the amount of money the municipality will receive from the sale of the property. Mayor Richardson said it would be inappropriate to discuss those details before the transaction closed.

"We're close to finalizing it. The municipality will end up with an amount of money we can put in our reserves," said the Mayor.