WEST Vancouver's plan for a new, combined police and fire station has been trimmed to a $40million price point, but many of the big decisions will be left to a new council.
Staff updated council Monday night with their work over the summer that has lowered the scope of the building and opened up more aspects of the design to the public for a consultation process planned to begin early in 2012, after a new district council is elected in November.
Staff are proposing a "base version" that would drop the cost to $39.5 million from estimates of up to $65 million for a proposed 58,100 square-foot police and fire services building designed to withstand a major earthquake and be built next to municipal hall.
But major questions as to whether the municipality will proceed with a combined building at all and how to pay for it have been left for the next council to decide following the public consultations next year.
"Our concern is that if this new council comes in and doesn't like it, they may ask us to change it," said Grant McRadu, chief administrative officer for the district, explaining why they plan to wait until next year to start the consultation process.
"What the building looks like, where it is located or even deciding on whether a new public safety building is warranted rests with the incoming council."
The report estimates the added cost of including the fire department in a combined building at $5 million, compared to $1.4 million for a retrofit of the existing Fire Hall No. 1 building, which wouldn't extend the life of the building.
However, were council to sell the land under the fire hall, the report estimates the added cost of a combined building could be earned, and the report stresses that the existing fire hall is deficient in other ways, has no sprinkler system and limited clearance for vehicles.
McRadu said there would also be significant operations savings from having both fire and police in the same space, as they would be able to share meeting spaces and a cafeteria, as well as heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
The report warns a combined building presents design constraints and will mean a bulkier mass to the structure, and if council decides against selling lands for development will come with a higher price tag.
McRadu said the cost of the new building had been vetted by several outside sources and could be paid for by the sale of lands or financing or property taxes, depending on council's wishes.
Not included in the $40-million price tag is any seismic retrofit of the existing municipal hall building, or other extras such as a training facility, additional underground parking, inclusion of ambulance bays or more generous square footage, all of which had been discussed at one time or another, said Bob Sokol, director of planning. Each could be added back in, however, depending on the public consultation.
Chief Const. Peter Lepine and West Vancouver police deputy chief constable Jim Almas both spoke in favour of the combined building, noting the more efficient operating costs and deficiencies in their current homes.
Coun. Michael Lewis said the new information should help clear up questions the public has about the project, and give people time to digest the information before the consultation.
"We really needed to spend some time and some money seeding the project and getting the data to base the conclusions, so it's not based on I think, she thinks, anecdotally," he said.
Couns. Shannon Walker and Michael Evison expressed concern at the delay between now and the consultation period.
"At this rate of progress we're pushing out the completion of something we may wish to do on the 1300block, which is mainly to move the police station out of the 1300-block, we may be pushing that out over four years," said Evison.
