The location for a new fire station in the Town of Essex will be decided tonight.
Essex council will be presented with a report this evening, recommending to approve the Harrow Soccer Complex as the site for the new Fire Station 3, located at 2215 Roseborough Road.
In November 2018, a Building Condition Assessment was completed at the current station, located on Centre Street East. The assessment revealed that the building systems were in poor to fair condition, and that there was insufficient space for facility upgrades.
From the assessment, it was stated that it would be more practical to construct a new station at a different location, rather than attempting to update the existing station.
A number of locations were recommended, however the Harrow Soccer Complex is being considered the best fit. The land is already municipally owned, it offers easy assess to critical roads and routes for emergency response, and it's large enough to accommodate the station with a spacious outdoor training area.
Essex mayor Sherry Bondy says this has been a long time coming as the current station faces challenges.
"It's landlocked, and it would also need a lot of capital funds in the near future to be adequate for our growth. The bathroom facilities, the bays... it's served its purpose."
She says the new station will be an upgrade.
"A better training room, the parking lot is bigger so they'll be able to do aerial training in the parking lot. We'll also have adequate bathrooms, you could barely say we had bathrooms in the last one, it was really bad. The bays will be bigger so that the firetrucks can be washed inside."
Bondy says there shouldn't be an impact to the existing soccer fields as they are underutilized.
"We do have soccer there, but it's very seasonal, very sporadic, it's not all year. So, it does make sense going to a facility that is already town-owned, and there is some synergies for training, for events if they wish to hold, and it's a positive move."
The design will follow the layout of the newly constructed Fire Station 2, which is expected to reduce design costs. The approved budget for the architectural design is $140,000.
This station will feature the same amenities as Fire Station 2, which opened in February 2022, such as meeting spaces, a training room, PPE storage, technical rooms, large bays, adequate parking, and cleaning facilities.
Town administration states in the report that Fire Station 3 will have no impact to existing soccer fields in the area.
The estimated cost to construct the new station is just over $4.8-million, with funding to be considered in the 2026 budget.