Redwing farm Cook

The Fire Board asked Salt Springers in a referendum to approve a plan to build a new Fire Hall. The Board asked S2 Architects, of Calgary, to give a basic floor plan study and an artist rendering for our discussion. They also did a preliminary estimate of the costs. They estimated the cost at 13.7 million. The Board then asked the community for permission to borrow $9.7 million with the total cost of of about $13.7 million. We received a 75% yes vote. Thank you Salt Spring! So where are we now? We went to tender for the design and JDA Architects of Vancouver were selected based on experience and they had the lowest fee plan. They hired engineers and gel tech experts and designed a building slightly larger with at 12,500 sq. Ft. Floor plan and a sheer wall structure to handle a 9.0 Earthquake. The Sheer walls add about 4,000 of exterior space to handle the steel columns and concrete base. The total space is 16,500 sq. Ft, with 12,500 of usable floor space. We went to…

Now is the time for teamwork. The Salt Spring Island Fire Improvement District, known as Salt Spring Fire Rescue or simply the Fire Department, has come a long way in the last five years. After earning a 75% vote of support from ratepayers for borrowing the necessary funds, we have planned and built the new firehall on time and on budget. Now, more than ever, we need teamwork to meet the challenges facing Salt Spring. You have three votes to help us meet the challenges we face: • Bringing the new firehall online smoothly, on budget and on time. • Building emergency firefighting capacity (such as water storage on site, and the planned 750,000-gallon pond behind Fulford Hall). • Growing wisely to meet the new demands of firefighting on SSI (such as deploying a pre-owned ladder truck to reach several multi story properties). • Planning prudently for a new north end satellite firehall in 2030 (which will include topping up reserve funds, potential donation of land, and …