PLEASE NOTE: A Council Motion to release the UBCM Strategic Priorities Fund grant application to the public was defeated by a 4:1 vote. However, the grant application was later obtained via a Freedom of Information Act application and it contained no redactions, e.g. no confidentiality concerns were raised.

Reading the Firehall Replacement Grant Application, several themes emerge:

1). Regional Training Centre:  An asserted "need" for a regional training centre was identified several times.  However, training programs are already being regularly hosted in the recently renovated school, just across the road. Within the grant application it is proposed that Metchosin provide a new state-of-the-art structure and serve as regional leader in fire rescue response and training. A community of just over 5000 residents (1826 taxpayers in 2025) does not need, and cannot afford to “set a benchmark” with “key innovations” or to provide training space beyond that which is already available in the renovated school. Rather, we need an appropriately sized Firehall to serve our small rural community. 

(PLEASE NOTE: The aspiration for Metchosin to finance a state-of-the art regional training centre is distinct from the ongoing, practical desire to ensure that members of our volunteer fire department receive high quality training and opportunities for gaining experience through deployment in other locales.  The former is an unsustainable capital cost for local taxpayers; the latter is a justified operating cost).

2). Reciprocal Relationships:  A reciprocal relationship with other communities for services provision is mentioned several times – but only in reference to what Metchosin could or should do for other, generally larger communities.  Nothing is mentioned about the commitments these larger communities could or should make to our much smaller community.  Similarly, the size of our actual service area population is exaggerated within the application.

3).  Stable Population: The grant application asserts a level of local service demand growth that doesn't match Metchosin's actual population growth projections. Metchosin is a rural community whose population is slow growing and will continue to be so.  Call volumes are not likely to increase nearly as much as they will in adjacent, much faster growing urban communities.

4).  Redundant Community Hub:  Despite frequent assertions to the contrary in the grant application, the Firehall does not serve as, nor is it needed as a community hub. We already have the Community Hall, the Community House, and the recently renovated Metchosin School that provide plenty of appropriate space for community gatherings and activities.  The recent school renovation included a very expensive (~ $400,000) kitchen. We do not need and cannot afford a redundant community hub.

5).  Duplicating Training Space:  Metchosin Fire Department currently runs training programs in the recently renovated Metchosin School.  We do not need to plan for duplicate training space in the new Firehall to address this need, since it is already being met by our current, modernized school infrastructure. 

6).  Missing Costs:  The cost estimate of $21.3 million to build a new fire hall does not include significant, easily foreseeable items, such as the cost to repair or demolish the existing administration building and/or apparatus bays and to provide septic infrastructure. The cost estimate is thus misleading.

7).  Geotechnical Issues:  Potentially significant geotechnical or environmental conditions have not been addressed in this grant application.  The proposed location of a new Firehall is in an area well-known for winter flooding and a high water table.  No estimate has been included to address soil removal, gravel additions or other mechanisms to ensure proper drainage.

8).  Breadth of Options: The grant application states that alternate options for the project have been considered.  This is correct only in the most superficial sense.  Marginally different variations informed by a preferred design concept were considered by the selected architect, but there was no apparent examination of actual projects of comparable size undertaken elsewhere in our region.

9).  Financial Hardship & Community Divisiveness:  Civic pride and quality of life is repeatedly cited as a benefit that would result from building the "preferred" Firehall replacement option. However, excessive spending on a new structure that includes unnecessary elements would result in large tax increases for a small population.  Rather than feeling proud, Metchosinites might feel betrayed and burdened.  Some may experience serious financial hardship from resulting property tax increases.   Rather than engendering civic pride, a poorly thought-through and over-priced project might be more likely to undermine local quality of life and increase community divisiveness.