CANMORE – The future use of Canmore Fire Hall could soon be determined.
A report from Town staff is recommending council direct the fire hall on 10th Street to be used for office space for the Town’s protective services, facilities and public works departments and look at third-party interest for the remaining space.
Canmore council will discuss the future of the fire hall at its Tuesday (Aug. 14) meeting, with the new fire station on Palliser Trail set to open in the fall. The new facility will be known as the fire station rather than the fire hall.
The staff report emphasized multiple municipal departments have space issues and with Town-owned space at a premium, staff are recommending it be for municipal use with the possibility of having community services included.
“Multiple Town departments currently have spatial constraints within the organization,” stated the staff report. “Given the unknowns of the timing of future municipal growth, impacts of that unknown growth timing on future municipal facility planning, and the lack of Town-owned lands for municipal facility growth, administration is recommending that the next use of the facility be largely for municipal uses with the potential to co-locate other community services.”
According to the report, a framework was created to better allocate space and requests as well as how to use space in Town-owned buildings.
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, and Town departments were able to submit requests for using it. The report noted the budget requests for the space requests were small.
According to the report, the facilities' use decision framework was 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.
The report noted the facilities department looks after roughly 360,000-square-feet of space in 62 different buildings that have 46 user groups.
“Space availability is at a premium within the Bow Valley and therefore municipal spaces must be optimized and allocated appropriately,” stated the report.
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 life cycle maintenance.
Other options presented in the staff report retaining unallocated space for Town purposes and exploring full use of the facility by external groups and selling the fire hall, which is not being recommended.
At the Jan. 12, 2021, finance committee meeting, a motion directed Town staff to look at both the sale and lease of the existing fire hall for the 2022 capital budget.
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.
The report highlights the existing fire hall will shut down in the fall once the new fire station opens. It outlined a “variety of ideas for the future use of the building have been suggested” such as private business use, community offerings and meeting unfilled community needs.
“These ideas are creative and engaging and show the vision, potential, and aspirations of the community along with the understanding that the current Fire Hall is located at a valuable intersection in the heart of the downtown core, enhancing the potential uses for the space.”
