Community Consultation Before Rebuilding SC/LC Fire Hall

By Jo Anne Malpass

After a lengthy discussion at the Columbia Shuswap Regional District budget meeting about whether to rebuild the Scotch Creek/Lee Creek Fire and Community Hall as one facility or purchase another property and separate the buildings, directors decided to table the decision until the community has been consulted.

Scotch Creek Lee Creek Fire Hall before and after the fire. (Credit: before Kicker - after Jim Cooperman)

A report from Derek Sutherland, General Manager, Community and Protective Services, explained the Fire and Community Hall was lost in the Bush Creek East Fire. “The building was a cultural and social hub in the community and the loss has significant social effects on the community.”

Staff is looking for direction on the two options. Splitting the projects would delay the rebuilding or may result in the lack of a community centre if that were the desire of the electorate. Or staff can work to rebuild the facility as it was, with a joint fire hall and community meeting space, but in a better configuration.

Major Considerations:

Splitting the services would require purchasing an additional property in the area because there is only one current (fire hall) property.

If a separate community centre was contemplated, there would have to be a service area created at some point which would require an assent process for taxation.

The fire service area has sufficient Capital Reserves that it could buy property for a new Fire Hall, if required. However, there may be future tax increases to fund capital infrastructure repairs/replacements in the immediate to longer term. The current reserve fund balance for the Area F sub-regional fire service is $1,594,745. Future plans for the fire service also include building a new fire hall in Anglemont and purchasing land and building a fire hall in Lee Creek.

Area F Director Jay Simpson said the community should have some input into this instead of a top down decision being made, with most other directors agreeing.

He had questions about what size of fire hall will be needed as the community grows, is one acre big enough to accommodate the requirements for firefighter training and education, along with a community meeting room and how might that work? In his “wonderous of all worlds,” this would be a fire hall only and we would have another building that would have things like a day care, library, food hub and other community services.

Manager Sutherland said there is room to build a fire/community hall which would be properly functional looking forward 20 years. “We would be a little tight but could make it work.” Once the Board has provided guidance on how they would like to proceed with the rebuild, a designer and project manager will be engaged to start the process.

When asked what he would prefer if he could have anything he wanted, Sutherland responded that “ideally I would purchase a larger lot and rebuild one closer to Lee Creek and build a bigger hall instead of two.”

Director Simpson will be meeting with Sutherland and CAO John McLean to find an option for public consultation, to provide research and some ball park costs to present to the community. The Kicker will share any updates on its social media pages.