Though they are not sure how it will be funded, the Village of Cumberland council approved a conceptual design for its long-awaited fire hall on Oct. 10.
After about 40 minutes of discussion, council voted in favour of the fire hall’s design and set the budget for the building’s construction at a total of $4 million.
Village of Cumberland chief administrative officer Sundance Topham presented the preliminary design to council, stating the project is one the Village’s development priorities.
“We’re not committing to anything at this point in time except for a conceptual design and a [budget] we’re going to be shooting for,” he said.
The proposed fire hall will boast two floors, three truck bays, an exercise and multipurpose room, locker rooms, showers and laundry room. The building will also include a lounge, office rooms and lots of storage space.
The building will be housed on the corner of Cumberland Road and Primrose Street. The Village purchased that parcel of land for the new fire hall in 2016.
But how the building’s construction will be funded is still undetermined.
The Village of Cumberland only has $140,000 in its fire hall facility replacement budget, which is set to go towards the project’s next steps.
“We don’t actually have the money earmarked for the actual construction of the building yet, so part of the process moving forward is to do a detailed design of the building and do a public consultation based on the design,” Topham told council before the vote.
“Once that process is done… we’ll hopefully have a better sense of where we’re at with some of the community’s other big-ticket items, such as the sewer issue and maybe some other developments.”
Councillors brought up the possibility of applying for grant funding to help pay for the facility, but Topham said grants for fire halls are “few and far between.”
Topham’s report to council also touched on tax increases that will come with the new fire hall, which is expected to cost $75,000 per year in operating expenses.
He said Cumberland residents paid on average about $195 in taxes towards fire and protective services this year. That figure will go up with the arrival of the new hall.
“Over 30 years it would mean about a $121/year increase for a residential and about $219 for a median commercial [property],” he said.
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A new fire hall has been in discussion for several years in Cumberland. The current fire hall — located on Dunsmuir Avenue — was last upgraded in 2005, but that was only done as an interim safety solution.
In 2012, the Village commissioned a facilities assessment that noted the current fire hall “has significant structural issues and operational limitations. The building has been proven to be inadequate for resisting a seismic event, exposing the community to serious risk in the event of a seismic event.”
Cumberland fire Chief Mike Williamson said a new fire hall is a necessary investment and will have to paid for at some point.
“Fire halls are like a pillar of a community and ours has been in very poor shape for a number of years,” he said. “I think a lot of residents are for [this project]. But they’re going to have to build it eventually.”
Topham said that while Village staff initially hoped the fire hall could be built for $2 million, they concluded that too many necessary components would have to be removed for that budget to be realistic.
Construction of the new fire hall is likely still a few years away.