By Ian Holmes

Nanaimo Council moves closer to borrowing up to $17M for new fire hall

Feb 20, 2018 | 12:07 PM

NANAIMO — Building a new multi-million dollar fire hall in downtown Nanaimo narrowly passed a key hurdle, despite numerous concerns from some members of Council.

In a pair of 5-4 votes at Monday night’s meeting, Council approved three readings of a bylaw authorizing the borrowing of up to $17 million for a new fire hall on Fitzwilliam St. and also triggered an alternative approval process.

The borrowing bylaw will come back in front of Council for final approval following the elector approval process.

A consultant pegged design costs for the project at between $2 and $3 million, which didn’t sit well with Coun. Bill Bestwick.

“I can’t imagine us getting it for $1.5 (million) on a bargain basement deal now. And I can’t imagine us getting a $17 million hall for $15 million because we’ve already said we’re willing to spend up to $17 million and we haven’t even seen a design yet.”

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Fire Chief Karen Fry said the idea behind a consolidated emergency response centre is to provide value for taxpayers.

“Our intention was not to build a Cadillac model. It is to be efficient and (get) best value for the City’s money,” Fry said.

Councilllors Bestwick and Jerry Hong extensively challenged anticipated costs and felt the process was rushed and lacking key information. Hong and Bestwick, along with councillors Gord Fuller and Jim Kipp voted against moving ahead with the borrowing bylaw.

Coun. Ian Thorpe supported the project, noting they had previously viewed a new fire hall as a priority and didn’t want delays.

“We’re simply starting the process of financing that and as Mr. Mema (City chief financial officer) has said more than once this evening, it’s not $17 million, its up to, and this simply gets us started.”

Mema said design options would come back to Council for review.

In May of last year, Council received a business case analysis for the new fire hall and directed staff to include the project in the 2018-2022 financial plan. The analysis said the current downtown hall was built in 1966 and does not meet provincial seismic codes. The business case referenced several other physical shortcomings, include a leaky roof requiring urgent replacement, as well as the opportunity to consolidate emergency operations currently split between two buildings. The new building would also serve as the City’s emergency coordination and dispatch centre.

Through the alternative approval process, if more than 10 per cent of voters (6,842) sign their names voicing opposition to borrowing $17 million, Council can only move ahead with the borrowing through a successful referendum. The deadline for responses is May 4 and the process is expected to begin on April 3.

Construction of a new downtown Nanaimo fire hall is slated to begin next year.

ian@NanaimoNewsNow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes