The discussion of whether to turn Fire Hall No. 1 into an arts centre has concluded after City of Cranbrook council April 27 voted to put the downtown building up for sale.

“The opportunity is now there for the currently empty fire hall to be purchased, renovated and given a new and useful purpose that will help continue to revitalize the downtown,” the city noted in a press release.

“The new owners will also be able to take advantage of the city’s downtown Revitalization Tax Exemption Bylaw designed to encourage and stimulate development and improvement in the downtown helping enhance the economy and add to the beautification of the area. Those who take advantage of the bylaw can receive a property tax exemption of between 80 to 100% of the total improvement cost for a term of five-years,” the city outlined.

“It is important to recognize that council is not selling the city’s heritage. Regardless of its future use, the city’s Heritage Bylaw is in place to help maintain the heritage character of buildings designated under the bylaw, such as the fire hall – whether the ownership is public or private,” the city release continued.

“Council will review all offers being put forward for the old fire hall by potential buyers including all future use plans. Council is very keen to see what opportunities may exist for the building.”

On Monday night, city council also decided not to extend the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Cranbrook and the Cranbrook & District Arts Council (CDAC) around the potential repurposing of Fire Hall No. 1 to a permanent home for the arts. That MOU expired at the end of 2014.

Council believes the scale of the project proposed by the CDAC is simply beyond their ability to deliver, the city news release explained.

“From review of the structural assessment completed by an independent engineer, there are significant structural issues with the building. Similarly, in terms of the proposed business plan, there are several significant deficiencies with the draft business plan that makes council suspect the viability of the plan.

“For example, the plan lacks a proper basic feasibility assessment of the market,” the city stated, adding, “While there are a number of statements throughout the document claiming a high demand for the services proposed by CDAC, there is no actual supporting information justifying the statements.”

The city noted the CDAC’s plan also “lacks a proper analysis of the competition. In fact, many of the proposed activities and services of the plan duplicate what is already offered by existing facilities supported by the city. In essence, the plan proposes to go into direct competition with facilities already funded by the city including the Key City Theatre, the Studio Stage Door, the Royal Alexandra Hall at the Cranbrook History Centre and the Manual Training Centre along with private sector businesses and other service organizations.”

E-KNOW is still awaiting comments from the arts council. They will be provided in an upcoming separate story (s).

e-KNOW

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