Few topics are of universal interest in any community, but on Salt Spring, the future of a most central spot in Ganges village comes close.
The fate of the Ganges fire hall, also known as Fire Hall No. 1, will be entering the realm of official public discussion next week when the Salt Spring Local Community Commission (LCC) receives a report on the state of the 73-year-old building. It should be part of the agenda package for the LCC’s evening meeting on Thursday, Feb. 12, which members of the public are welcome to attend.
The LCC, through the Capital Regional District (CRD), will assume ownership of the site four months after the new fire hall is occupied, as per an agreement related to a $1-million CRD contribution to the Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District, which reduced the project’s borrowing costs by that amount.
We would be surprised if the report contained “good news” about the state of the building and the practicality of preserving it. Among reasons a new main fire hall has been needed for years have been well-founded worries over the existing building’s health and safety deficits. Its inability to withstand a serious earthquake, coupled with the likelihood of having to mitigate the presence of toxic materials like asbestos for any significant renovation, should concern those hoping to fully preserve the “heritage” structure itself.
We understand the building holds sentimental value as a fixture that’s been in the centre of town for so long, especially because of its clock tower, which is useful as well as visually iconic. (While in Ganges it’s easier to check the time with a quick skyward glance than searching for it on a cell-phone, for sure.) Eating hot dogs and sipping hot chocolate at the hall after Halloween fireworks are part of many islanders’ favourite memories, along with annual Fire Prevention Week open houses and other safety-oriented events and fundraisers held there.
But in considering what will happen next at the fire hall site, we hope sentimentality will find an appropriately temperate rank on the list of considerations, that a fulsome public input process will be developed, and that in the end a balance will be struck — between cherished memories and respect for local taxpayers.