Owen Sound council is not committing to rehabilitating the Centennial Tower.
City council received a report during their multi-year capital plan meeting Tuesday and passed a recommendation that included spending $39,000 for design and engineering related to the once-popular tower — which features a spiral staircase and viewing platform.
Council passed a motion in late 2025 to add a $265,000 Centennial Tower rehabilitation job to the city’s list of funded capital projects, specifically in 2027.
But there was a shift in tone around the council table Tuesday. Some councillors communicated to staff the engineering work to be undertaken should also examine decommissioning and removing the tower entirely.
Coun. Jon Farmer introduced a motion to remove the Centennial Tower project from the city’s funded capital project list, but subsequently withdrew it after an understanding was reached staff would examine all options.
“I’ve been struggling to think of what the benefit of this asset is…beyond nostalgia. And I say that as someone who could see this tower from my bedroom growing up, and who climbed it a lot as a teenager,” Farmer says. “There’s no view anymore.”
“We’ve had various conversations at this table about the difference between ‘nice to have’ and ‘need to have’ … I think we need to look at the pending costs, and say ‘that’s too much.’”
Coun. Melanie Middlebro’: “I don’t see how we’re going to come to a solution that works. I would say if you’re moving forward with (an engineering study) it has to include all solutions. Which for sure, is decommissioning it and taking it down. If that’s the way we need to go.”
The Centennial Tower was constructed in 1967 by students of West Hill Secondary School and OSCVI. It was a centennial project to celebrate Canada’s 100th birthday.
Corrosion, and loss of steel panels that support the upper concrete tower were identified as the most notable concerns by an engineering firm that completed a structural review and recommended the Centennial Tower’s closure in 2024. The staff report to council discussed Tuesday says the assessment completed in 2024 was “visual-only” and there is a strong likelihood of increased costs — beyond the $265,000 budgeted for rehabilitation work.
Councillors were told destructive testing would have to be completed on Centennial Tower to see where it stands. The report says the tower was built on the foundation of an 1887 lime kiln. There hasn’t been any major rehabilitation work done to Centennial Tower since 2001.
Some councillors offered comments during Tuesday’s meeting supportive of completing a rehabilitation project.
“I am always asked when the tower is going to open again for tourists to have a look, for local residents to have a look up the tower,” Coun. Marion Koepke says.
Deputy Mayor Scott Greig: “There’s a place for this in the community, because it was built by the community.”
Mayor Ian Boddy says he believes the structure needs to be thoroughly reassessed first, before council can consider its direction.
“We need to have a good look at it and determine if and what we want to do, and what that cost is going to be,” Boddy says. “I think before we get to a design phase, I would hope we get that determination.”
“It is built on a lime kiln that was built in … I would imagine the 1800s. That was steel, and rusted, and was sound to put cement weight on top of in 1967,” Boddy continues. “Is it still? I don’t know. I’d be more concerned about getting an assessment of the structure.”
Councillors were told staff would be reporting back to council with options sometime later this year, before proceeding with any capital project related to Centennial Tower in 2027.