The City of Victoria is looking at building a new main fire hall in the downtown area that would cost $33.7 million, about $12 million less than the price of a seismically sound replacement for the current main hall on Yates Street.
Total project cost would be $35.9 million, once features such as sidewalk improvement and project management are factored in.
The new building, subject to council approval Thursday, would be constructed to the latest seismic standards and be 15,000 square feet larger than its predecessor, built in 1959. Funding has previously been approved in principle by council.
Also planned for the new building — set for a site on Johnson Street adjacent to Pacific Mazda — is accommodation for the city’s first purpose-built emergency operations centre and for B.C. Emergency Health Services to lease space for a station with room for four ambulances.
The public-safety complex would take up the first two floors of a larger facility from Dalmatian Developments Ltd., a venture bringing together Jawl Residential and Nadar Holdings Ltd.
“The developer is planning on adding additional floors above the fire hall, and they will be a mixed-use development compatible with an urban fire hall,” said Susanne Thompson, the city’s director of finance.
Similar arrangements at other fire halls have seen such things as affordable housing and commercial outlets on the higher floors.
The developer intends to submit a rezoning application within six months, and the project could take 28 months to complete once that and all of the permits are in place.
The bulk of the city’s funding comes from its debt reduction reserve, which functions as an internal loan fund, meaning no tax increase will be required for repayment.
Victoria Fire Chief Paul Bruce said one of the new space’s greatest benefits will be its ability to function in a post-disaster capacity, due its seismic status.
He said there are several other factors that make the project worthwhile.
“The co-location of emergency responders, B.C. Ambulance being in the same facility with us, we see that as a positive step in a multitude of different ways,” Bruce said. “We see some efficiencies here that could potentially help us and save emergency traffic on the streets, if needed.”
Another positive aspect is “east-west, north-south” direction of major routes in the area, he said.
Johnson Street and Yates Street, for example, provide direct east and west access, Bruce said.
“With the new bridge being seismically built it creates a lot of efficiencies as far as response routes go in an emergency situation.”
The new building’s location is another positive, Bruce said, especially since the downtown core has growing densification and an increasing number of tall buildings.
“And when it goes up, they’re certainly concerned with highrise-structure firefighting, multi-occupancy buildings that we respond to.”
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said the plan put forward allows the fire department to keep using the old hall while the new one is under construction.
“We need that building for at least three more years,” she said.
Estimated completion date for the project is toward the end of 2022.
She said the deal for the new fire hall took a lot of work to establish, going back to 2013.
“It’s taken a long time to get here but I think we’ve got a really solid project going forward.”
Helps said the responsibility for building the project is with an experienced private-sector developer.
“They’re going to build us the fire hall, then they’re going to hand us the keys when it’s done.”
jwbell@timescolonist.com
