(From left) John Stephenson with Form Architecture and John Pepper with RPL Architects Inc. present options for Thunder Bay Police's headquarters to City Council.
City Council seems uneasy about a possible $52-million new police station, as they look at the options for the Balmoral Street police headquarters.
Consultants presented their report to Council last night, which claims the best option for police operations is to build a new station in a new location. They came up with a list of 14 possible sites, but didn’t publicly disclose any of them beyond recommending a “central” location.
They also put forward an option to renovate and expand the current building, projected to cost $63.7-million.
They gave the cost to simply maintain and repair the current building at $10-million, but told Council it wasn’t a viable option for the police force. Council heard the current police HQ is not meeting the force’s needs, and Chief Sylvie Hauth pointed out the roof recently began leaking.
Councillor Mark Bentz said they should consider fixing up the Balmoral Street station and building smaller satellite stations.
“Basically, we’re talking about doubling the size of the police station, to almost the size of the [Real Canadian] Superstore in these reports. One-hundred-and-something square feet, which boggles my mind, really. What if the community does not want to take that path?” Bentz asked.
Several Councillors brought up the idea of satellite stations, but consultants John Stephenson and John Pepper pointed out that was not included in their mandate.
Councillor Trevor Giertuga was also concerned about the cost, claiming the community can’t afford $52-million. He wondered if police could operate like EMS and Thunder Bay Fire Rescue.
“They have the main station, and then they have the satellite stations. I understand that would have some increased costs, but can we ask them to go ahead and tell us what those increased costs would be, and give us that scenario?”
Hauth was asked if it would help to instead build a smaller location for civilian staff to reduce crowding at Balmoral Street. She said that’s not the answer because they work too closely with sworn members of the force.
“There’s a big intersection on a day-to-day basis between front-line staff, the work that is being done, and those civilian members. Really, the only civilian aspect you are looking at would be almost insignificant,” Hauth explained.
