It’s April Fool’s Day today, but the state of Port Moody’s Fire Hall No. 1 is no joke. Fire Hall No. 1 is the city’s main emergency response building. Last year, the Port Moody Fire Department responded to 1240 incidents, and 80% of those were attended to by fire fighters at Fire Hall No. 1.
Originally built in 1974, Fire Hall No. 1 is has been deteriorating over the years. Structural cracks first began to appear in the building in 1999. In 2004, the City commissioned an independent structural engineering review which recommended seismic upgrades to stabilize the building. The City completed these upgrades in 2006.
Two years later, another review revealed new problems. Today, several walls have continued to move, with additional cracks appearing in the walls of the fire truck bays and in the foundation. The floor slab of one of the fire truck bays has pulled away from the foundation walls, and the ground near the buttresses installed during the seismic upgrades is steadily sinking.
Acting Mayor Karen Rockwell says, “Although the fire hall has some serious deficiencies, there is no immediate threat to the safety of the firefighters and equipment, or the delivery of service.†However, the situation is serious enough that Council chose the replacement of Fire Hall No. 1 as the single major City-funded capital project in the 2009-2014 financial plan. On Saturday, April 16, 2011, qualified electors in Port Moody will be voting on the following question: “Are you in favour of Council adopting Bylaw 2878, a bylaw to authorize the borrowing of up to $16,000,000 toward the construction of a new fire hall to replace the old Fire Hall #1.â€
All Port Moody residents should have received a detailed brochure in their mailbox. The brochure includes information about the project, a cost breakdown and information on the referendum process. Residents who did not receive a brochure by mail can pick one up at City Hall. You can also find out more by visiting www.portmoody.ca/referendum, and reading the Frequently Asked Questions.
Advance polls happen on Wednesday, April 6 and Saturday, April 9 from 8:00am-8:00pm at Port Moody City Hall. Regular voting happens on Saturday, April 16 from 8:00am-8:00pm at the following locations:
- Glenayre Community Centre, 400 Glencoe Drive
- Kyle Centre, 125 Kyle Street
- Heritage Mountain Community Centre, 200 Panorama Place
- Port Moody Recreation Complex, 300 Ioco Road
Civic politics matter. Ensuring that our communities have the facilities they need to keep us safe is important. And so, we encourage Port Moody residents to get out and vote in the referendum. And while you’re at it, inform yourself about what else is happening in your community. You just may be surprised to find out.
Jon,
This doesn’t seem like the fullest coverage of this issue. The City already used our tax funds to mail us a nice brochure with little content. Have you read the financial information at:
http://www.cityofportmoody.com/City+Hall/Finances/2011+Budget+Townhall+Meeting.htm
How many residents chose this $16M borrowing option when the public input was received? I suspect the residents voting to have no more high rises were not clear on the tax impact of full borrowing, or the implications for other city facilities.
It is also interesting to learn about the incidents the FD is responding to. Most are medical calls, which should be funded by the province and attended to (quickly!) by paramedics who are generally more fully trained, and better equipped, for medical emergencies. With interests rates where they are, and all manner of organizations cutting costs, can Port Moody taxpayers afford a possible 9% tax increase next year? Has the City looked at other options, such as combining Fire Departments with nearby municipalities? We might want to ask why a small town like ours has its very own FD, with two fire halls a few hundred meters from the municipal border? What are the implications of having unintegrated local fire departments in the case of a wide-scale regional disaster?
Obviously the FD cannot reside in Fire Hall #1 for much longer. But this is a bigger issue that the coverage below, or the very flimsy information provided by Council last week.
Regards,
Cynthia van Ginkel
I’m sure it’s NOT the fullest coverage of the issue. My intention in writing this was to raise awareness of the referendum, and encourage people to become informed and vote. As I write this in my spare time, for free, around my life with my children and my other work, I don’t always have the resources to fully research every single issue that I post about. And I would never presume to tell someone how to vote, in any case. So I encourage everyone to do their own research, and come to their own conclusions.
Thanks so much for providing some additional information, which Port Moody residents can use to make the best decision possible, both for the Fire Hall and for the way that tax dollars are spent in general. If you would ever like to share your perspective, please consider submitting a guest post. We welcome outside contributions when they’re well-written and respectful. Drop Jon a line at jon@thev3h.com if you’re interested.
I”m not sure what portion of the information council has considered and shared with the public over the last few years is ‘flimsy’, but perhaps a restatement of some important facts is worth while ?
The replacement of Firehall #1 has been an issue for many years, the city has been aware of the ‘settling’ of the building on the site, and spent nearly $ 800,000 on ‘renovations’ in 2004, that were known at that time to be temporary in nature.
In the 2005 election, the firehall was recognized as a high priority capital project – however, all of the city reserves from development revenues and land sales were already being spent on the Recreation Centre and Police Building – combined over $ 35 million, drawing down reserves and putting the city into debt.
In the 2008 election, the firehall was identified by EVERY council candidate as being the highest priority for capital investment in the city. In 2009 council reaffirmed the commitment that the replacement of firehall #1 was the highest, and in fact, only , capital commitment in the budget planning process.
Town hall meetings were held to discuss the options for siting and funding. This site was also discussed repeatedly in the 4 + years of OCP review, in the context of both firehall use and redevelopment. Development of any substantial scale, on this site, has repeatedly been rejected by residents.
Perhaps the one thing that has NOT been made clear, if someone has not been following this process ,although it can certainly be found in the information in public materials/agendas, is that the current firehall site is encumbered significantly by the riparian/streamside protection regulations, adopted by council in early 2005. The site, at over 6500 sq metres, is barely , or not even, able to accomodate the firehall with an approx 1000 sq m footprint, without infringing on the protected areas. These requirements make this site very unattractive for the sort of redevelopment that was suggested earlier in the public consultation process (highrise or midrise with any significant density), although, even without the ‘full extent’ of this information, the public participating in the process rejected the idea of additional development on this site. The reality now, if only 1000 sq metres can be developed while respecting the riparian setbacks, means there is little more land to build on this site than a typical moody centre single family lot, at 800 sq metres. No development on this scale would bring any substantial revenues to the city, and we would be left with having to still build the firehall somewhere, and we would have sold another city asset that we could never get back.
I have never heard anyone, during my two terms on council, suggest that Port Moody should not have it’s own fire department or that they do not appreciate the exceptional service they receive from our emergency response agencies, both police and fire. City budgets are always a challenge, but certainly it is my belief, that the core services of a city – including police, fire, infrastructure (roads, sidewalks) and utilities (sewer, water) – must always be protected and properly funded, to allow all of us as residence to feel safe in our homes and neighbourhoods. As our taxes continue to escalate, we need to discuss, and possibly rethink, as a community , what services we are receiving and if they are of good value, or should be subsidized by taxpayers – we simply cannot have everything we want for no cost ! Before we talk about eliminating our fire department and ‘contracting’ with another municipality, would it not be appropriate to examine taxpayer subsidies of yoga classes or computer training ?
Replacing a firehall that is falling down, shouldn’t be confused with extravagant or un-necessary expenses.
I am shocked at the amount of small minded people. I have worked in the health field for many years. We are the ones Police, Firemen, Paramedics, Hospital staff. That are there to help you. This complaining about a new fire hall is amazing. People are concerned that we are building it , to suit the Firemen. Have any of you ever worked a 12 hour shift? saved a life, watch one die? Why is it okay, for other co operations to have staff rooms that accomadate everyday workers. Yet , we complain when we have to accomadate the front line workers. Do these men/women not deserve to , after having attended a traumatic situation, to be accomadated? We are not talking putting hot tubs in ect ect. We are talking about when they return after saving your child/mother/ ect. That they do not have to be where their walls are coming down. It is not a 9-5 job. It is a job where you leave when its safe . Stop complaining about your views or taxes. Give these Firemen the respect they deserve. When your house with the view burns down. Its them who are there.