It appears plans will soon be finalized to relocate Bracebridge Fire Hall #2 from Highway 118 East near Vankoughnet to 1002 Uffington Road, now known as Uffington Park.
Tomorrow the Bracebridge General Committee will consider officially selecting the Uffington location as the site of the new fire station.
Construction of the new fire station is currently pegged at $4.5 million, to be included in the 2024-2033 Long Term Capital Plan.
Upon completion of Station 2 in 1982, the initial estimated useful life was 30 years. The building is 12 years past this useful life and based on the age of the building, the asset condition is considered “very poor,” according to a staff report.
In June of 2022, Council agreed that the Fire Chief and other senior staff should begin looking at opportunities for the acquisition of property to facilitate the future construction of a new Bracebridge Fire Station 2 and report back to General Committee
According to to staff, 1002 Uffington Road was determined to be the best-suited site for many reasons including the size of the property, geography of the property, ease of access to Hwy 118 East from a secondary roadway, and ultimately its measurable benefits around providing the greatest fire protection to the southeast quadrant of the Town of Bracebridge. In addition, 1002 Uffington Road is Town-owned, which would result in cost savings as no new property is required to be purchased. The property is known as Uffington Park.
According to consultants’ reports compiled for the town, a fire station in the Uffington area would provide the department with easy access to the Highway 118 East corridor and the Ecclestone Drive industrial and commercial area. The Department’s firefighters could reach significantly more residents within 10 or 12 minutes when responding from the Uffington area (compared to other areas).
Due to the number of residents in the Uffington area, the Department may be able to recruit more volunteer firefighters than it does currently, according to the report.
Station 2 is currently located at 3448 Highway (Hwy) 118 East, approximately 25 km from Highway 11 and 7 km from the easterly border of Bracebridge. The Station was constructed on a three-acre site owned by the Town of Bracebridge, which was formerly used as the Oakley Township Public Works Yard. The building itself was entirely conceived and constructed by the Vankoughnet area volunteers with additional labour, materials and funding donated by area residents. There was no financial contribution to the project by the Town, although a motion was passed on August 12, 1981, to allow for the construction of the building on the site.
Tomorrow the general committee will also consider a vote on whether public engagement, regarding functions and amenities of the 1002 Uffington Road site and facility, be undertaken prior to the final design receiving approval.
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My grandfather donated the land for uffington park to the town for a token payment of $5000 on the condition it be used as a park NOT a fire hall.
Yes the Town is proceeding with a new proposed station in Uffington at the expense of reduced fire protection services in the village of Vankougnet and surrounding areas . There are far to many issues with that decision to note here but suffice it to say that Vankougnet will be the loosers.
Despite our local ward councilor Barb McMurrys valiant attempts to bring reasoning for pause in this decision, Council in its wisdom,dismissed her requested pause and pushed on with the Uffington site selection.
Councilor McMurray simply requested that the matter be deferred to a later date such that a public consultation process could be conducted with the Oakley Ward rate payers, the local councilor , the fire chief and the volunteer firefighters. This meeting was very clearly stipulated in the Town Staff report but for reasons unknown the majority of Councill voted to proceed without any public consultation. A very concerning postion to take by our elected officials !
I do not doubt there is merit in establishing a second fire station in the municipality and perhaps Uffington is the preferred location however given the huge geographic area of the municipality it is quite conceivable that a third station is warranted.
To shut down a fully operational and functioning fire service without any public consulting and to further deprive residents of the excellent responce times that the Oakley Ward residents have enjoyed begs many questions with few common sense answers .
Let’s take a pause and get this right