Lund organization has plans for vacated fire hall

Efforts are underway to repurpose the old Lund fire hall building that has been vacated.

At the February 17 qathet Regional District (qRD) committee of the whole meeting, Charles Latimer, treasurer of the Lund Community Society (LCS) appeared before the committee to set in motion new uses for the old fire hall. He said LCS has been using the old Lund school, which is now the community centre, and has had a current lease since 2017.

With the building of the new Northside Volunteer Fire Department fire hall on Highway 101, there is an opportunity for LCS to house some of its programs in the old facility on Larson Road, adjacent to the community centre, according to Latimer.

“There's an opportunity for us to house some of our programs and so that’s what the proposal is,” said Latimer. “I’m happy to see that the draft proposal is for a building assessment and for staff to work with us. I’m very excited about that.

“We’ve gone through quite a bit of community consultation about what we would have in that building. There’s a lot of excited parents for a skate ramp there. There’s a clothing exchange program that exists that needs space, as well as a community bike shop for Bike Lund.”

Electoral Area D director and committee of the whole chair Sandy McCormick said she wanted to commend the proposal LCS had put forward.

“It’s very detailed with lots of information in it,” said McCormick. “It will certainly help us in understanding what you are trying to do.”

Electoral Area E director Andrew Fall said the vision is great.

“Having a place for young people to go and skateboard on the ramp is fantastic,” said Fall. “It does require volunteers to open and close it. Is that going to be a tough job? Someone will have to be there.”

Latimer said LCS has tried to address that issue.

“We decided that the easiest way to move forward would be to have volunteer attendants,” said Latimer. “Those could be folks attending the clothing exchange, parents who are looking after their kids, or folks volunteering with the community bike shop.

“What we are suggesting is having a consistent kind of training of what that entails, opening the space, and having regular shifts. Having put feelers out, we already have about 15 folks who are interested in helping. Once we move forward, we’ll make that more concrete.”

McCormick said she had a question about insurance for the proposed skate park. She asked if that would be an issue.

Latimer said that is the element LCS is most proactive on.

“We’ve already reached out to our insurance provider for the LCS,” said Latimer. “We have insurance for our board members and for the building itself. I don’t have numbers yet but as soon as I do I’ll share that with the regional district staff. I know that’s one of the big concerns for the regional district, making sure insurance is in place for all structures.”

The committee passed a motion that it recommends the regional board direct staff to conduct a building assessment of the old Lund fire hall to inform on the safety and integrity of the structure. The motion also stipulated that staff be directed to engage with the northside community on the future of the old hall, and return to the board with recommendations.