Moncton’s Caledonia fire station gets green light
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
T&T
By: Brent Mazerolle
http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=14447
The City of Moncton should soon break ground on a new fire station to replace the McLaughlin Drive fire hall. Moncton city council awarded a $3,224,200 contract to J.W. Lindsay Enterprises Ltd. for the construction of the new Caledonia Fire Station on Caledonia Road near Elmwood Drive. The city is still working out the terms of its purchase of the land because the municipal corporation and the property owner have failed to come to agreement.
“That raises a red flag, Can we build when we don’t own the land?” Ward 3 Coun. Daniel Bourgeois asked.
However,because the city ended up expropriating the land, Bruce Tait, the director of municipal facilities, said the city already has possession of the land“for all intents and purposes,” even though the payment for it is still being negotiated.
Tait was asked by Ward 1 Coun. Shawn Crossman if the planned spring 2016 opening was realistic, given the problems with the land.
“That is the target, and it is an achievable one.”
Councillors, stung by past troubles with the roof at the Crossman Community Centre leaking and numerous complications arising with Resurgo Place, including cost overruns and leaks in the distinctive glass atrium roof, had lots of questions about the fire station, questioning why this newest municipal construction project wouldn’t have its own dedicated project manager.
The need for such a municipal employee overseeing a construction project has come up in the past with big projects such as the Moncton 2010 Stadium. Tait, however, said this was a relatively straightforward construction of a new building, as opposed to, for instance, a complicated renovation and expansion, as was the case with the Moncton Museum becoming Resurgo Place.
Ward 2 Coun. Charles Léger sought assurances the new fire hall had design input from the fire department itself.
“There’s been active involvement by the fire department both by management and unionized firefighters,” Chief Eric Arsenault told council.
“I’m quite confident our needs have been met.”
The motion to award the contract passed 6-1, with Bourgeois dissenting. Councillors Paul Pellerin, René Landry and Blair Lawrence were absent at the time of the vote.
Apart from the need to replace the McLaughlin Fire Station because it has reached the end of its operational life, there has been a long-recognized need for a more strategic location. The 2003 Fire Station Location Study recommended that an ideal location for the new station would be in the Trans-Canada Highway and Elmwood Drive area, and in October 2013, data analysis by Risk Management Services reconfirmed that finding.
Optimal locations for fire stations are determined by evaluating several criteria such as assessed value of property, population covered, streets covered and property risk.
Council’s decision to relocate the Assomption Fire Station to Botsford and King was the first of two moves to improve the effectiveness of fire response. The Botsford location gave firefighters easy access to several major traffic corridors and broadened the area it could effectively cover. It has, however, meant that two of the city’s five fire stations, it and McLaughlin Drive, are too close together.
Moving McLaughlin, which is also too landlocked by the Université de Moncton campus and Elmwood Cemetery,will give it better response time to Caledonia Industrial Estates and other developing areas of northeast Moncton. Its placement by the intersection of Elmwood Drive and Route 2 is also expected to be helpful for getting firetrucks to emergencies quickly.
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