Council to consider referendum on fire hall

Ron Seymour 2008-08-16 Kelowna Courier

Lake Country voters could get the chance to vote this fall on whether the town should borrow $4 million to help pay for a new fire hall. Council will consider a suggestion from staff on Tuesday that the question be put to voters as a referendum attached to the municipal ballot in November. “It‘s a pretty large financial commitment, so we feel that people should have a say on whether or not we go ahead with this,” town administrator Randy Rose said on Friday. The owner of a typical Lake Country home assessed at $520,000 would pay an extra $57 annually in property taxes for 20 years if the new fire hall is constructed. Total cost of the project is estimated at $6.3 million, with $2.3 million to come from town reserves. Parts of the existing fire hall date back 50 years, and the building has outlived its usefulness, officials say. “Renovating is not a viable option, as the building was built for much smaller equipment and a smaller firefighting force,” reads part of a report to council written by Hazel Christy, Lake Country‘s director of corporate services. Deficiencies with the building include a lack of showers and decontamination facilities, which puts it in contravention of WorkSafe B.C. regulations for fire halls, limited storage, maintenance and repair areas, and undersized administration rooms. “A new building would be able to incorporate energy-efficient construction and other environmentally friendly building techniques, leading to improved operating efficiencies over the long term,” Christy said. The department, which has three full-time firefighters as well as an on-call volunteer brigade of about 60, handled 638 calls last year, many involving accidents along Highway 97. Plans show the new hall being built at the northwest corner of Okanagan Centre Road and Jardine Road, on land previously bought by the town.