-Sale of property closes in January-

OSOYOOS TIMES-November 19, 2008-

By Karen KnelsenrnOsoyoos Times

Big wheels turn slowly, and building a new fire hall is a big wheel.
When the Town of Osoyoos was informed by the former B.C. Fire Commissioner that it will have to find a new facility for the local volunteer fire department, it ended up doing an overall needs assessment review of all Town-owned facilities.
Then they started looking for land on which to build a new fire hall.
(He) said that the current existing fire hall does not meet current standards, said Jim Zakall, director of finance for the Town of Osoyoos. It needed to be in close proximity to the highway.
But location wasn't the only thing that needed to change.
The fire department's trucks are old “ it's time to start replacing at least some of them, and new trucks are tall, taller than the hall's current truck bays allow for.
Eventually the Town found some land that was appropriate. Five acres, or two hectares, of space in the South Meadowlark area, which was identified in the Official Community Plan as a future growth area for the community, is where they want to build a new hall.
The Town purchased the Richter property for $2 million, and the sale closes in January 2009 with the beginning of the new fiscal year.
The money came from accumulated surplus, the density bonus money that we received from Indigo, and from the fire department reserve fund, Zakall said.
The property is larger than required for the new hall, but purchase agreements were entered into with the plan of selling off what land wasn't needed to developers with an affordable housing component in their plans, Zakall said.
The land is also in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), but Zakall said that once the newly elected council votes on the Town's development services plans for the South Meadowlark area, the Agricultural Land Commission will approve the removal of the land from the ALR.
He said there will be opportunity for public input and information sessions before Council approves anything for sure, but Town staff are hoping to have the South Meadowlark plans back in front of Council early in the New Year “ about the same time the land sale is finalized.
Whatever happens, Coun. Dick Flintoff said the town definitely needs some land for a new fire hall, and there are all kinds of options for whatever portion of the two hectares that doesn't get used for the development of the building.
reporter@osoyoostimes.com