Plans for a brand new Station 1 in Strathroy for the Fire Department moved forward last week at Council as they approved the receiving of the report on the proposed build and motioned to direct staff to proceed to the next step including detailed costing and Site Plan Approval. Director of Community Services Rob Lilbourne reported to Council that as the community grows, so does the need for fire services. Previous council adopted the Fire Master Plan for the community, which identified that the age and condition of Station 1 needed replacing, and the plan recommended the Zimmerman Street location as the ideal site. Based on the 2022 Canadian Construction Cost Guide a fire hall of this nature will cost between $7-10 million and Director of Finance Bill Dakin says the money can come from different areas but not as much from development charges.
A costing analysis will be done by staff, and a question was posed as to if it is possible for the footprint of the new building and the usage of the old building during construction to possibly co-exist. Fire Chief Brent Smith says not for the equipment aspect of the project.
As staff and the architects worked through the process it was identified that the current hall will need to remain active during the construction of the new hall. This requires that the new hall fronts on Metcalfe Street and maintains drive through access from East Centre Street to facilitate this layout the closure of Zimmerman Street is required.
Staff circulated a letter to residents within 150m of the site notifying them of the planned closure of Zimmerman St. One resident responded expressing traffic concerns on East Centre Street unrelated to the construction of the fire hall. The concerns identified the speed and volume of traffic on East Centre Street Staff reached out to the concerned resident and proposed that staff conduct a traffic and speed assessment of East Centre Street in September to assess the concerns.
The closing of Zimmerman Street allows the proposed Strathroy Fire Hall (Station 1) to be built on the site recommended in the Fire Master Plan while maintaining the level of service residents have come to expect from our Fire Service.
filestream.ashx (escribemeetings.com)
written by: C. Soares