Stratford residents will soon have a better idea of what a new facility for the town’s emergency services may look like.
Council passed a resolution accepting a tender from Sable Arc Studios at a cost of $138,000 for architectural and engineering design services for the design of an emergency services facility for Crossroads Fire, RCMP and Island EMS.
Mayor David Dunphy, who also chairs the town’s infrastructure committee, said the town has been working closely with crossroads to find a long-term solution for emergency services in the town.
“We’re taking the first step to see what the facility will look like to incorporate the needs of the fire company, RCMP and EMS. That’s our goal here, so we got some very good pricing.
“We want to move to the next step.
Deputy Mayor Randy Cooper said the fire department has outgrown its current space while a roundabout is being planned for the area.
He said RCMP also currently has limited space in the town.
“It’s not adequate to perform the services as required,” said Cooper. “All in all, it’s a good project for everyone.”
Cooper said the town was hoping to tap into federal and provincial funds for the building.
The meeting’s resolution also approved a supplementary capital budget of $160,000 be approved for the design of the emergency services facility.
Dunphy said while the tender was $138,000, the town had not budgeted any capital money for the facility and that there could be additional expenses.
Cooper said the original request for proposals for the engineering and design was based on a 23,000-square-foot building costing about $3 million.
However, the resolution noted that based on the information from architects on recent projects the building would more likely see a price tag of about $4 million.
Sable Arc had the lowest price of the received tenders.
