Powell River Regional District directors have approved a plan that will re-establish community use of a building that was constructed for the Savary Island Volunteer Fire Department.
The regional district closed the building to use by the community last fall after receiving a draft building assessment report. Since then, regional district staff, fire department representatives and Electoral Area A Director Patrick Brabazon have been working on sorting out the issue.
The regional district was granted a licence of occupation for a portion of the property for a fire hall and related use in 1994. The ministry of transportation and infrastructure has a licence for the remainder of the property.
The fire hall was constructed by volunteer labour in 1995. The lower floor of the building serves as a fire hall, while the upper floor has historically been used as a community hall and includes an open meeting room, kitchen, washrooms and large balcony.
In October 2012, the regional district contracted with RDH Building Engineering Ltd. to conduct a thorough condition assessment report on the building, inspecting it for code compliance relative to the 2006 BC Building Code.
Subsequent to the inspection and a first draft forwarded to the regional district, Sean McGinn, the regional district’s manager of community services, recommended to Brabazon that the use of the upper floor as a community hall cease immediately as the building does not meet building code requirements and introduces the regional district to significant liability concerns. Many island residents have complained to the regional district about the building’s closure, as there is no other building on the island that is suitable for community use.
The assessment report was recently finalized and an action plan to address the issue was prepared after meetings were held with Brabazon, fire department representatives and staff.
Brabazon explained that if the building is going to be used as a community gathering place, the regional district needs to establish a recreation service. “If we create a new service, then we can legalize the use of the hall and draw up terms of reference for who pays what,” he said. “Right now, the entire shot is being paid for by the fire department and they have certain exceptions to the idea that they are paying for the line dancing going on upstairs.”
Directors endorsed the action plan at the February board meeting and voted to investigate creating a new service for Savary recreation. If the recreation service is established, then taxes collected for the service would pay back the portion of the upgrade costs required for community hall purposes. As well, the new service has to have voter approval.
The action plan calls for staff to prepare an application to request a change in the licence of occupation to allow for a community hall as well as a fire department. Staff will request that the ministry of transportation and infrastructure relinquish its licence of occupation on the rest of the property and that the regional district be granted the use for fire department practice and parking for the proposed community hall use.
The estimated cost for upgrading the building for dual use is $150,000. The action plan states the estimated costs will be refined and included in the fire department’s budget. The regional district is proposing to borrow the funds for the upgrades, which are expected to be completed within four months.
Directors also adopted an amendment to the Savary fire protection bylaw that increases the maximum tax requisition to 50 cents per $1,000 of property value from 40 cents.
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