Up in the air

No one knows what will become of Picton’s town hall

As the County gears up to cut the ribbon on a brand new fire station in Consecon, a tender is being put out for another station in Picton, this one farther from the centre of town. The station that now houses the office for the County’s fire chief will be relocated to the industrial park, neighbouring the ambulance outpost on the town’s east end.

The fire station is not in the ideal location right now. Although having a fire station in the centre of town may let some sleep better at night, it has proved a terrible location for the emergency service.

The building, formerly Picton’s town hall, is too small to house the fire department’s equipment. The narrow corner makes it unsafe for trucks to leave and arrive. It’s kitty corner to a residential part of the town, and it leads to the busiest section of Main Street—not ideal for a vehicle that needs to move quickly. When the new station is built and the fire department moves out, the building will be declared surplus.

While there is a benefit to moving the fire station, there is one major downside that has received very little attention from council, with only a quick mention by Picton councillor Lenny Epstein: what will happen to the community space upstairs?

The fact is, no one is clear on that matter. It’s an awkward situation. The upstairs is used for a variety of regular community events, and losing it would be very troublesome for users. But you can’t sell half a building.

“I don’t think they can do anything until they finalize the agreement with the new firehall in Picton. We’d have to have that issue before us before we could discuss it,” says Mayor Robert Quaiff. “There hasn’t been any interest from the rec committee, there hasn’t been any interest from the public, and quite frankly, I haven’t had any conversations at this point with [Picton councillors] Lenny [Epstein] or Treat [Hull].”

Quaiff said it’s the community development department that would decide what to do.

Neil Carbone, director of the community development, says that if the fire department no longer needs the space and is declared surplus, it would join the building next door on King Street: the old Parks and Recreation building which was declared surplus along with the department itself.

“I think keeping it as public space and as an opportunity to continue to have it be a space for community would be a good use for that space,” says Epstein. “There’s a need for affordable housing, there’s a need for educational opportunities for people, housing for youth. There’s lots of ways that that space could be utilized.”

Perhaps, Epstein mused, the old Parks and Recreation building could be reclaimed as community space instead. It has been for sale for some time. Epstein says that although it will bring money to the County when it sells, the cost of holding the empty building is a detriment to the community.

“A lot of times community groups that are doing amazing things in our community; one of the biggest challenges for them is space. So if we had space, then we could get positive things growing. I think that’s something that we could be doing.”

Epstein suggested that if people have proposals for using either building, they should bring them to council.