No decision has been made on a second fire hall for Fort Saskatchewan as of yet.

A motion to go ahead with the design of a $24.5 million fire hall was defeated Tuesday, after four hours of debate and discussion.

Councillor Gordon Harris, who made the motion, Councillor Birgit Blizzard and Mayor Gale Katchur supported proceeding on the plan. “It’s time to get designs done. I think our public deserves that,” Katchur said, noting that the land for the new fire hall was purchased in 2016.

“I personally believe that we have enough information to make a decision today,” said Harris. “If we’re going to do it, we should do it right,” added Councillor Birgit Blizzard.

But the majority of Council pleaded for yet more time to decide. “It’s not because I don’t support the fire hall,” said Please see FIRE HALL, continued on Page 2

Councillor Lisa Makin.

“I’m just not ready right now to vote,” said Councillor Ajibola Abitoye. “It’s a very emotional issue for me.”

Councillor Patrick Noyen and others want to wait until a development levy for the new neighbourhoods is prepared. This levy would be able to help pay up to 65 per cent of the cost of any new fire hall.

Councillor Brian Kelly also asked for more time, but then put forward a motion to go ahead with a newly presented, cheaper $7.7 million design option. “I see no reason, and no benefit to the public to build a facility that is way overbuilt for our needs today,” he said.

Kelly’s proposal was also defeated. His only support was from Makin.

The earliest the fire hall issue will now come back to Council for a decision is now going to be July 8, said City Manager Troy Fleming following these votes.

Council has now been presented with five options for a new fire hall, rather than just three options first presented in March.

These five options range in cost from a low of $7.7 million, to $24.5 million. The new $7.7 option includes sleeping quarters for eight firefighters and two bays for fire trucks, but is the only option that does not include a training tower. It also lacks a hose drying facility and has a smaller parking lot than the original lowest-cost option.

Adding these features and a fire training tower would bring the price of this option to $13.8 million.

The middle options call for space for 10 firefighters and three fire truck bays, plus additional office space. It is estimated to cost $18.8 million.

Administration has been recommending the most expensive $24.5 million option, which includes additional training facilities, plus space for public events, and a heritage room that will contain, among other items, Fort Saskatchewan's historic Bickle fire truck.

Council was asked to choose an option for the fire hall in March, but delayed that decision in order to spend more time studying and questioning the entire fire department plan. This required setting aside an entire meeting date for the discussion, which could not be held until this week.

Fort Saskatchewan purchased a 7.7 acre site for a second fire hall in Southfort in 2016 for $4.4 million. Design for the new hall was set at that time to take place in 2018, with construction to begin in 2020.

The second fire hall is considered necessary in order to get fire trucks to the scene quickly enough even in the newer neighbourhoods. The accepted standard is to get a truck at the scene within 10 minutes of a call. Parts of Westpark and Southfort are too far from the existing fire hall for this standard to be achieved.