East Sooke residents will vote Saturday in a referendum on whether they should borrow $2.12 million to build a new fire hall — nearly 20 years after the Provincial Fire Commissioner recommended the move.
“We’ve needed it for some long time,” said Dick Braunschweig, chairman of the East Sooke Fire Protection and Emergency Response Service Commission.
The current hall, built on Coppermine Road in 1985, is “deficient and needs to be upgraded,” Braunschweig said. For one thing, it has only three bays for fire trucks, meaning a first responders vehicle must be parked outside, its equipment stored in the hall instead of on board and ready to go.
The Capital Regional District has been working with the commission for four years on the plans.
Capital costs have been reduced by federal gas tax funding of $125,000 and a $50,000 donation from a community member, according to the CRD.
The project would cost an estimated $263 per year per average household valued at $499,165, if the entire $2.1 million is borrowed. The term of the loan would be 15 years.
If voters approve, the new hall would be built several hundred metres along the same street toward Gillespie Road on property already owned by the CRD and the fire department, said deputy chief Dave Bigelow.
When the fire hall was built, the department had one truck and served 550 residents spread over 2,130 hectares, says a report on the CRD website. By 2012, the population had reached 1,750 over 3,035 hectares.
A 2008 analysis by architectural and engineering firms found the hall “significantly below standard.” It said it was:
• too old and small
• too deficient for a feasible upgrade without demolishing the existing hall, which also serves as a community centre
• located in a residential area next to a park, posing a safety concern for children when trucks respond to calls
• lacking areas for drills and training.
“The cost of renovating would be almost the same as building a new hall, and it still wouldn’t meet the community’s needs,” the report said.
Voters can cast their votes from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the fire hall, 1397 Coppermine Rd.
