The District may have to pay between $141 million to $169 million to fix its aging and outdated facilities, a significantly higher cost than previously anticipated.
A new document called the Real Estate and Facilities Master Plan was presented to council on June 25, and painted a picture of a town in need of replacing its aging structures.
A previous report presented to council last year called the Real Estate and Facilities Strategy originally pegged that cost between $97 million to $118 million
“What could’ve been done to prevent us getting here?” asked Coun. Armand Hurford.
“There’s lots of implications for really being better at budgeting for appropriate operating and maintenance costs,” said Camilla Say, manager of facilities.
She said there’s often no budget to replace things like HVAC equipment until it becomes an emergency situation. At that point, work on the facility often becomes more costly.
As part of the key findings, both fire halls, the public works facilities, municipal hall and the library were some of the buildings recommended for replacement, said Neil Plumb, the District’s manager of real estate.
The process for replacing the fire halls has begun, and the price tag, according to Plumb’s summary, could be up to a combined total of $13 million.
A new municipal hall would cost up to $25 million. Public works facilities would cost up to $12.6 million. A new library would ring in at up to $20.2 million. End of life and capacity issues were among the reasons given for replacement.
In these cases, renovations would likely be too costly and wouldn’t address capacity issues — renovated buildings may still be just too small.
Not all buildings need to be replaced though. Some can be renovated or expanded. Brennan Park’s facilities would be in this category.
There was also a recommended timeline for these projects.
The most pressing are those that are suggested to be done within three years. This includes both fire halls and the public works facilities.
There were also items suggested for within five years, such as the municipal hall and the park operations facilities.
These timelines weren’t necessarily driven by the facilities’ end of life, and can be stretched if need be, Plumb said.
Plumb noted that the town will need a variety of funding sources to pony up the cash.
This could include borrowing money, getting grants, funds from development, and selling off District assets, among other things.
A combination of those things will be needed, as no one source of income is enough to pay the costs, Plumb said.
There were also less pricey alternatives that the District could consider, he said, such as leasing structures instead of building them up from scratch.
