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Advisory Select Committee selects Cook Street site for new fire hall

The proposal to recommend the site was made and carried with two members opposed during the ASC’s ninth meeting.
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The Community Fire Hall Advisory Select Committee (ASC) has selected the Cook Street (Site 2) property beside Pealow’s Independent Grocery as its recommended site for the location of Creston Valley’s new Fire Hall. The proposal to recommend the site was made and carried (with two members opposed) during the ASC’s ninth meeting on May 16, 2018.

The decision was made one week after the ASC’s May 9 meeting, when Ernie Polsom of FireWise Consulting Ltd. led the committee through a preliminary analysis of the four sites considered for the Fire Hall in the process leading up to the December 2017 referendum. This site selection was contingent upon site size, geotechnical considerations, costs of land and remediation, and other associated factors.

The ASC also discussed the concept of affordability as it relates to a new Fire Hall. Following an exchange in which members considered the ideas of equitable property taxation, sustainable energy models and ongoing public input, the ASC settled on three guiding principles to help define the idea of an affordable Fire Hall.

These principles, which were unanimously approved by the ASC, include:

• Budget certainty (for the building of the new Fire Hall) through rigorous planning and project management

• A building based on current Creston Fire Rescue service levels and needs, not upon wants and likes

• An evaluation exploring all possible alternate funding sources, grants and opportunities to reduce the burden on taxpayers

At the beginning of the May 16 meeting, Polsom reaffirmed the important and challenging role the ASC continues to play as it synthesizes relevant information and makes recommendations to Council to inform its decision-making process.

“The ASC decision-making model is based on a consensus,” said Polsom. “Consensus does not require unanimity for a decision to be made.”

The ASC’s ninth meeting was held from 6:30 to 7:40 p.m. in Council Chambers at the Town of Creston’s Town Hall. Subsequent meetings are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on select Wednesday evenings from May to June 2018, with the next meeting scheduled for May 23, 2018.

The ASC was formed to make recommendations to Council on solutions to address the deficiencies of the existing Fire Hall, in order to meet the province’s legislative/regulatory requirements and industry standards. To view the latest ASC Meeting Minutes, click here.

Submitted by Kerry McArthur |Community Fire Hall Advisory Select Committee Facilitator | Communications Coordinator