By Christopher Sun
The Chronicle
It may be expensive, but North Oyster cannot afford to not build a new fire hall, says Area H director Mary Marcotte.
On Nov. 19, residents will be asked if they are in favour of the Cowichan Valley Regional District borrowing up to $3,030,000 to replace the aging North Oyster fire hall and build a new, second fire hall at Coffin Point.
While the price tag to taxpayers, an annual $248.96 per parcel for 20 years, has raised eyebrows amongst some (as published in last week’s Chronicle), Marcotte said that will increase should the referendum fail.
“No matter how small the delay, the project cost will increase,” Marcotte said. “We may have to go through another three years of consultations. That’s how long it took last time, about two-and-a-half years.”
Marcotte said it is possible to put out another referendum in six months, but that is unlikely. She added that numerous studies, a community ad-hoc committee and virtually all residents have agreed that North Oyster needs a new fire hall.
“We have reviewed this project nine ways to Sunday,” she added. “It’s not the Taj Mahal we’re building at all, we cut it to the bare bones.”
North Oyster fire chief Jason De Jong reiterated the need to move forward and build the new fire hall.
“There is a very real chance of WCB (WorkSafe BC) shutting us down,” De Jong said. “It doesn’t meet any building or safety codes at all.”
The current building was built by volunteers about 50 year ago, using leftover construction material. De Jong said the new Coffin Point fire hall did increase the cost quite a bit, but it is needed and was recommended in various reports.
“Coffin Point is a minimum 15 minute drive, so if there is a structural fire there, we have no chance of saving anything,” De Jong said.
“We do recognize the cost and the second fire hall at Coffin Point pushed it quite high, but we don’t want to go back to the public in five to 10 years needing another couple million dollars to build it.”
De Jong added that two thirds of the firefighters are also residents of the area and will be paying the parcel tax too, which works out to an extra $20.75 a month in property taxes.
