CANMORE – The future of the Canmore Fire Hall will see it primarily used for municipal office space.
Canmore council approved it to be used by the Town’s protective services, facilities and public works departments when the fire hall on the corner of 10th Street and Railway Avenue is decommissioned and the new fire station on Palliser Trail is brought online this fall.
In a 4-1 vote, with Coun. Tanya Foubert opposed, council directed staff to also look at third-party interest to lease the remaining space that takes up about 20 per cent of the building.
“Since we have this facility there, it’s not conducive for community and public usage given the very limited parking and constraint if there was a large number of people driving in and out,” said Canmore Mayor Sean Krausert. “I think this is a very good solution. … It supports our internal needs in order to provide the programs and services that our community expects.”
Stephen Hanus, the Town’s manager of facilities, highlighted the pressure being faced by staff with limited space. With property being limited, the use of 80 per cent of the fire hall for office space would allow other Town-owned facilities to open up and not have the Town purchase or lease new space that he estimated would be about $35-$40 per square foot downtown.
He noted, however, there may be some disappointment in the community in its repurposing.
“We understand the sensitivity of the community expectation of this whole facility and we know there’s many ideas of ways this building could be used from private sector to all the way to institutional uses or not for profit,” he said. “We understand there’s constraints everywhere throughout the community. Almost every organization is facing similar spatial constraints the Town of Canmore is.”
He added for the remaining space, the Town would likely only look at year-to-year leases because “the Town’s needs are always changing so much. … We’re a fast growing community and we have to adapt accordingly.”
Hanus said Town staff used a new facility use decision framework that allowed Town departments to submit requests for the space. As part of a 2022 capital budget project for facility use evaluation, a framework was created to develop principles and criteria for potential uses of Town-owned facilities.
When space requests are made, the framework has an internal review process with more complex space requests going to a second phase for a “robust evaluation process” that looks at cost analysis, a business case, an evaluation process and potentially a space use agreement.
The fire hall is the first use of the new framework, according to the report, with it being part of the Town’s ongoing business transformation portfolio. The framework was created by a third-party consultant that involved Town staff.
The Town’s corporate services department looked at recommendations in early June and senior staff received an update later in June.
Hanus said the facility use decision framework had been approved by council for the 2022 capital budget, allowing them to be aware, but it was an “administrational tool” and did come back to council for ultimate approval. However, he said there still remains the 20 per cent of space available that could also come back to council.
Foubert voted against the decision since she felt she didn’t have all the information needed to support moving forward with the use.
“I believe we have a responsibility to be strategic and have a vision and set a direction for what we do with all our facilities into the long-term,” she said. “I would’ve liked to have understood those other potential opportunities and some input into the process before now. … I need to support the process in order to support the motion.”
While voting in favour, Coun. Joanna McCallum noted the finance committee directed Town staff to look at both the sale and lease of the fire hall in January 2021.
Hanus said Town staff did a market evaluation through a third-party consultant of the building for different renting opportunities, but it looked internally as opposed to reaching out to the market.
“I would say that’s not what I expected based on the discussion we had in 2021 because we had a much broader discussion on the potential of distilleries and outside businesses,” she said, adding she didn’t fully understand the spatial constraints being felt by the Town.
“It was a very robust discussion at the time. ... I expected a hell of a lot more.”
McCallum, though, said when voting in support “we also have a responsibility to our staff and stacking them like sardines is not a great way to say we appreciate you.”
Sally Caudill, the Town’s CAO, said several unknowns when it remain comes to growth and future needs in the community.
While Three Sisters Mountain Village Properties Limited Smith Creek and Three Sisters Village area structure plans are legally approved after the Land and Property Rights Tribunal ordered them to proceed in 2022, the Court of Appeal is expected to give its decision this fall.
“The timing and what happens will have a future impact on Town operations in future Town facilities. … As a short-term use for a facility that still has life in it seems like a wise next move until we have some certainty for the growth of operations and the community given all the question marks there,” she said.
The fire hall is 8,514-square-feet in size and was built in 1986. Following a fire, the office space was rebuilt in 2015.
The capital project summary highlighted the facility remains in good shape and “is expected to be functional for several more decades.”
The report outlined operating costs of the fire hall at $35,000 annually for custodial cleaning and snow and ice management, while $40,000 is estimated for construction, furniture, fixtures and equipment. There’s also $150,000 estimated for lifecycle maintenance.
The 2022 capital budget noted when a market assessment of the fire hall was done in 2019, it was estimated it could be sold for between $3.425 million and $4.834 million.
Though a public engagement process didn’t take place for the building’s use, Hanus told council they heard from community groups that expressed interest in potentially using part of the building.
“It’ll alleviate some of the constraints that are already there and maybe some of the frustrations,” Coun. Karen Marra said of spatial constraints Town staff are facing. “I do wish I had a crystal ball to know what the future is and what the requirements would be, but it could also be we’re being financially sound in using and repurposing a building we already own. It’ll save us some money in the future if we had to expand or provide or rent spaces for these groups.”
