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Sidney looks south for new fire hall site

It’s 200 metres at most, but it will mean millions of dollars in lost revenue for Mary Winspear Centre. Sidney council voted Monday not to build an emergency services complex on the arts facility’s property, choosing a site to the south instead.
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Drawings for the proposed Community Safety Building. Sidney had been considering locating the new building on property owned by the Mary Winspear Centre, but council now wants to build on land leased to the town by the Victoria International Airport Authority until 2077.

It’s 200 metres at most, but it will mean millions of dollars in lost revenue for Mary Winspear Centre.

Sidney council voted Monday not to build an emergency services complex on the arts facility’s property, choosing a site to the south instead. Winspear Centre would have been paid rent had the complex been built on its field.

“We have no prospect of another tenant for the lease land,” said Richard Paquette, president of the Sidney and North Saanich Memorial Park Society, which operates the Winspear Centre as part of a 1922 community trust.

“It really is unfortunate — lose, lose, lose all around.”

Council now wants to build on land leased to the town by the Victoria International Airport Authority until 2077.

The obstacle at the Winspear site was the need to seek a court ruling on whether the emergency complex would fall within what’s allowed by the community trust.

The new site is occupied by a skatepark that is scheduled to be replaced by one in Tulista Park in 2017.

Sidney has been seeking a new emergency services site for six years. The town was prepared to pay nearly $1 million in the first decade of a 75-year agreement for the Winspear site.

Sidney wants to build a 26,000-square-foot complex for fire, ambulance, search-and-rescue and emergency-preparedness services.

In 2015, Winspear Centre received grants of $225,000 from Sidney, $178,000 from North Saanich and $5,000 from Central Saanich.

“We look forward to working closely with North Saanich on a commitment to increase their level of financial support to the [Winspear society] now that the funds from the proposed long-term lease are no longer viable,” Sidney Mayor Steve Price said in a statement Tuesday.

Sidney officials maintain that opposition from North Saanich was an obstacle to negotiating the Winspear site; North Saanich Mayor Alice Finall insists the community usage issue is between the town and the province.

The B.C. Ministry of the Attorney General and a B.C. Supreme Court justice expressed concerns about whether an emergency complex would comply with “community, cultural, athletic and recreational purposes.”

Paquette said the emergency building “clearly falls within” community use, but the ministry reiterated last week to the Times Colonist that the safety building would be “inconsistent” with trust provisions.

Without legal certainty in the form of a B.C. Supreme Court ruling, Sidney could not borrow funds to construct the building on Winspear land at a time when the lease for the B.C. Ambulance Service on Third Street is running out.

With a preliminary lease agreed upon for the Winspear site since April 2015, it’s a lot of negotiation down the drain, Paquette said.

He said he understands why Sidney council made its decision. But rent from the town would have provided much-needed money to maintain the 30,000-square-foot Winspear Centre, which opened in 2001.

Right now, there isn’t enough money if the centre required a new roof, Paquette said, and balancing the budget is “a struggle.”

Leasing Winspear land to the town would have contributed “a tremendous amount” to keep the centre in good shape, he said.

Sidney Fire Chief Brett Mikkelsen said he is relieved that council made a decision, but said it’s unfortunate that changing course will cost Winspear Centre.

The Winspear land represented the second major setback for a new emergency complex: Saanich school district refused to provide a site on the south lawn of Sidney Elementary School in March 2015.

kdedyna@timescolonist.com

Sidney emergency services complex map