Revised plan

Staff propose smaller fire hall to be located in Picton industrial park; will consolidate fire with land ambulance

Update: Since this story ran in the Times on Wednesday, a committee of council has met to discuss the revised plan described below. The committee agreed nearly unanimously on Thursday with the proposal that will see an eight-bay firehall built in the industrial park in Picton consolidating both fire and land ambulance services in a single facility. The project is estimated to cost about $4 million. The plan still must be ratified at a meeting of council, likely on July 22.

Another new firehall proposal will be put on council’s table this week. In this latest version, Fire Chief Scott Manlow has dropped plans to close the Mallory Road firehall and, rather than situate a new 12-bay hall near the traffic circle west of Picton, he is proposing to construct an eight-bay hall in the industrial park on the north edge of town—to be shared with the land ambulance service.

The estimated cost of the eight-bay hall is about $4.1 million—roughly $2 million lower than the estimate for the larger hall proposed at the traffic circle. The municipality owns the land in the industrial park—it would have had to purchase land had it proceeded with its original plan.

That property would also require the installation of water and septic systems. The industrial park site feature ready access to municipal water and sewer.

FINAL SHOT

This may be the last chance for this term of council to put its stamp on a plan more than four years in the making. In fact, it was a previous council that approved the creation of a master fire plan committee comprised of firefighters, fire officials and a council representative.

Two years of meetings and deliberations resulted in a recommendation for a configuration of nine firehalls around the CountyAgeing halls in Carrying Place, Consecon and Hillier were to be replaced by a single new hall in Consecon. Plans are well underway for the construction of this new hall under the water tower at the corner of Loyalist Parkway and Scoharie Road (County Road 1).

The more troublesome part of the plan dealt with the elimination of firehalls in Picton, on the Heights and in Bloomfield, in favour of a 12-bay hall near the traffic circle on the west side of Picton.

Council approved that plan, in principle, in 2010. But even then it was clear the plan was in trouble. North Marysburgh councillor Robert Quaiff complained that closing the hall on the Heights moved firefighting assets too far from residents in his ward. Prince Edward Federation of Agriculture’s John Thompson objected to the traffic circle site, fearing it would consume prime agricultural land. Bad enough on its own, but the construction of another institutional facility on the western edge would likely bring additional development pressure in the area nearby.

Folks in Bloomfield objected to the loss of the nearby firehall on Mallory Road in that plan. Others insisted there were more important priorities for the municipality’s scant financial resources.

Fire Chief Scott Manlow tried to allay Quaiff’s concerns by noting that faster assembly time at the traffic circle would mean shorter response times to calls in North Marsyburgh. A larger number of volunteer firefighters live in close proximity to the traffic circle and therfore could be expected to be moving to a fire sooner than from the Hill Station. He noted further that North Marysburgh residents remain well served by additions to the Milford hall and the retention of the North Marysburgh hall.

Manlow explained that his committee had hammered out these and many other concerns, that they had looked at it from every angle, fire safety, financial implication and personnel utilization, over two years. This was their best recommendation. Furthermore, doing nothing wasn’t an option according to Manlow. The fire service had outgrown cramped quarters on King Street in Picton— forced to park one truck outdoors and postponing the purchase of a replacement pumper truck because new versions of this vehicle won’t fit through the garage doors.

But that wasn’t enough for council. In April, council nearly killed the plan. Some said they wanted it dead so they could propose a 10-hall plan. Others just wanted it all to go away.

PLAN B

Manlow’s revised plan will come before a committee of council on Thursday.

The issues of prime agricultural land and the fate of the Mallory Road hall are off the table. The new proposal—a 10-hall plan— puts the new Picton hall on 8.6 acres of land already serviced with water and sewer.

The Hill station, located at the LochSloyIndustrial Park on the Heights, however, remains on the cutting block. More prominent in the current plan is the addition of the land ambulance service to the station. The municipality currently leases facilities on MacSteven Drive in Picton’s industrial park.

The lease is up for renewal in 2016. Though consolidating these services into a single building was contemplated in the original plan, the notion has hardened in the revised plan.

Bloomfield residents will cheer to know that the Mallory Road hall will stay—but there is a cost. According to the report presented to the committee of council this week, repairs to this hall will tally nearly $600,000 by 2017.

A smaller hall, consolidating both fire and land ambulance services, is also expected to bring operating cost savings.

With an election in the offing, coupled with high public interest in this story, Thursday’s committee of council meeting promises to be a lively occasion.