City of Powell River council has approved a $30,000 expenditure for a committee to carry out public engagement for the city’s new emergency services facility, or fire hall replacement, which has an estimated cost of more than $9 million.
Council unanimously approved the expenditure at its meeting on Thursday, March 22.
The emergency services facility is where the Powell River Fire and Emergency Services Department will be housed. The favoured location is on Barnet Street, adjacent to the RCMP detachment building, but the project will consider other locations in the city.
Councillor Rob Southcott said the committee would be a select advisory group comprised of city staff, one member of council and members of the public who have concern for this project, to work on planning intentions for it and to communicate with the public. He said the process will likely take much of the next year.
According to a report to city council from director of fire and emergency services Terry Peters, public communication and engagement will be a key process to ensuring the success of this project. Peters stated in his report that it is recommended an advisory select committee be established with a mandate to review the Powell River Emergency Services Facility Feasibility Study, concept design and financial report to ensure it:
· Meets legislative/regulatory requirements and industry standards;
· Sufficiently services the current and future populations of City of Powell River and mutual aid areas;
· Adequately provides for the health and safety of firefighters.
Peters stated that the budget of $30,000 was recommended to support the activities of the committee. Costs may include items such as: consultant presentations of existing reports; public consultation events, such as open houses and information sessions; advertising, communication displays, website and social media communication materials.
City chief administrative officer Russell Brewer said Town of Creston went through a similar exercise with its emergency services facility and allocated $120,000 toward its committee’s activities.
The Powell River Emergency Services Feasibility Study financial report that has been conducted provides a budgetary figure, based on comparable projects in other communities, of $400 per square foot, totalling $7.3 million, for the new emergency services facility. After adding in a design contingency of 10 per cent, a construction contingency of 10 per cent and a three per cent escalation cost, the total recommended budget for the project is $9,052,800; this figure includes construction-related costs only.
Peters said he was excited about the formation of the committee.
“The key thing is this is not a facility for us, it’s a community project,” he said. “It’s important to get the community involved in the whole project and actually analyzing things such as the site and the design.”
In terms of the proposed Barnet Street site, there is so much potential for community engagement with the parkland that could be part of the project, according to Peters. He said the fire department would occupy a small part of that site.
“It’s something the entire community could take pride in,” he added.
The community has excellent emergency services, with agencies such as the ambulance, RCMP, the coast guard and the fire department, but now it’s a matter of having the tools to do the job, said Peters.
“It’s long overdue for a new facility,” he added.
