City of Powell River councillors recently heard an extensive report on developments pertaining to a new emergency services facility.
At the March 4 city council meeting, fire chief Terry Peters said the matter of a new fire hall has been topical since he was a junior firefighter. He said the fire department vacated the Cranberry fire hall in September 1994 and moved its headquarters to the Westview fire hall. Since that time, the need for a new fire hall has been a matter of discussion and study, he added.
Peters said in 2011, an optimization study was done for several potential firehall sites. Those sites included: Courtenay Street, Barnet Street, Manson Avenue, the airport, the recreation complex, and Field Street, according to Peters. In December 2013, council reviewed those sites and passed a resolution that still sits on the table today that the Barnet site, next to the police station, was the chosen site, said Peters.
“That was actually stalled for about six years,” said Peters. “In 2019, we established our emergency services facilities select advisory committee and work has been done from there. In January 2020, the committee determined the resolution that the fire hall location at Courtenay Street was not seismically upgradeable and that a new facility was required.”
Peters said in February 2020, there was another evaluation of potential fire hall sites and it was realized that the study from 2011 was outdated. He said the old Inn at Westview and the Duncan Street site at the municipal works yard were added.
“The committee looked at all of these sites and they chose the public works yard,” said Peters.
He said the site identified is at Duncan Street and Ontario Avenue as the preferred location.
According to Peters, work has been done to determine suitability of the site, such as geotechnical and environmental reviews. He said an architectural firm, Johnson and Davidson, did a feasibility study, conceptual design and costing.
“Basically, what they did is take the footprint from Barnet Street and actually threw it onto the Duncan property to see how that would fit,” said Peters.
The committee reviewed the work and chose a drawing most suitable for the city’s needs, said Peters.
He said the committee made a recommendation to council that the city should get moving on this.
“The longer we wait, the more costs will keep going up,” said Peters. The goal, he added, is to start building a facility within two years.
Committee recommends name change
Peters said the committee is recommending that council change the name of the select advisory committee from emergency services facility select advisory committee to fire hall/emergency services select advisory committee, so people would have a full understanding of what the building is.
He said a recommendation before council is to direct staff for a request for proposals for a project manager for the purposes of coordinating a design build fire hall/emergency services facility.
He said the committee is asking that the Barnet site not be the preferred site for a new fire hall and that there be a resolution that the Duncan location is preferred.
The committee has also recommended a figure of $7.5 million for the fire hall for budget purposes for public consultation, according to Peters.
The committee has arrived at two important conclusions: that the city needs a new fire hall and the one the city has is not seismically upgradeable, said Peters. He said there is also a recommendation before city council to establish a capital reserve fund for the new fire hall.
Councillor Cindy Elliott said regarding designation of up to $7.5 million as a budget figure for the purposes of public consultation, whether that is an amount the committee thinks will come close to what is needed.
Peters said that’s what the committee’s budget numbers came to. He said as the process proceeds, it might end up being higher.
“The committee looked at it and the contingencies in the proposal originally,” said Peters. “The committee did its recommendations among themselves and they felt that’s a number it could go to the public with.”
Elliott asked Peters what he thought of that number. He said in December 2018, the numbers were at $9.5 million from the architectural design firm. He said every stone will be turned to remain as economical as possible.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway, who is a member of the emergency services facility committee, added that the city is establishing a reserve it was hoping to build. Hathaway said the $7.5 million is the long-term borrowing the committee is looking at that the city will have to go to referendum on. She said she is sure the city’s chief financial officer will come back with a report that lays out the costs.
Current location concerns councillor
Councillor Rob Southcott said he believes the current fire hall would not survive a seismic event in the magnitude of the earthquake of 1946 that occurred in this region.
“It’s worried me for all those years,” said Southcott. “That fire hall is a disaster waiting to happen.”
Councillor George Doubt said it’s nice to try and construct the fire hall as economically as possible but it’s asking an awful lot when the designers say it’s going to cost $9.5 million, and then two years later thinking it can be done for $7.5 million.
“It’s extremely optimistic, and in my experience, costs have increased in the last two years,” said Doubt. “I hope when we get the report from staff there will be a very realistic target for the price. We owe it to the taxpayers to have it as accurate as possible.”
Hathaway said she concurs with Doubt that $7.5 million may not be the right number but she expects staff will come back with recommendations. She said she voted for the number the architect came up with because they are the professionals but the committee voted for $7.5 million.
Council carried three recommendations, which included the name change of the committee, endorsement of the Duncan Street site, and public engagement and an elector approval process for long-term borrowing for up to $7.5 million.
