NEWS FILE PHOTO Grading work proceeds at the Coulee Ridge Development in south Medicine Hat last summer. City council is considering offering grants to those who purchase in the new community to offset the cost of residential fire sprinkler installation.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
A new south-end subdivision sits outside a fire department response time zone, administrators said Monday while suggesting grants toward home sprinkler systems could avoid the need to build a new fire station.
One councillor called the idea “the responsible thing to do,” which could be expanded to cut down the need for new fire stations, while another called it a “subsidy” that would encourage developers to request costly changes to city planning priorities.
Coulee Ridge was unveiled last winter with the developer stating the unique site overlooking Seven Persons Creek made it a destination development.
However, the parcel on a point west of the Saamis Heights community is only accessible from S. Boundary Road near the county hamlet of Desert Blume.
Fire department officials say it will take eight-and-a-half minutes for their trucks to arrive on scene of an emergency — about two minutes longer than the six minutes and 20 seconds stated in the city’s servicing policy.
As such, the state of affairs would require the city to begin planning for a new fire station, potentially costing up to $9 million to build, and $3 million in annual operating costs.
Instead, administrators say offering a total of $100,000 to pay part of the cost of installing sprinklers in the first 40 homes is more prudent.
“It the long term, it’s the responsible thing to do,” said Coun. Jim Turner. “If we were allowed the development and there was a major fire, who would be the first to blame? The city.”
All homes in the initial 40-lot phase must have sprinklers as a permit requirement due to the response time. Administrators estimate systems installed during initial construction could add 1 per cent to costs, and therefore a grant of $2,500 per house could cover half.
Funds would come from council’s contingency fund.
Coun. Kris Samraj told the committee he opposed the development originally because the area was outside short-term development projections.
“It is an out-of-step development, which comes with extra costs and extra risk,” he said, stating the developer or homeowners should bear the costs.
“The recommendation is that the city subsidize, that taxpayers subsidize, home sprinkler systems. Now we’re making it easier for developers to make out-of-step (proposals), because we’re subsidizing their fire risk.”
Turner said new building is needed for economic benefits, and if successful, the practice could be expanded if it further delays spending on new fire stations.
Two years ago the city completed a relocation program for two firehalls that cost more than $15 million, but avoided adding a fourth station.
Samraj said that process was based on meeting response times in communities that were expected in the near term.
The Coulee Ridge land was first proposed as a major new community in the mid-2000s, but after two consecutive developers entered bankruptcy, city transportation and planning officials stated the land would remain vacant until at least after 2025. The specific plot was also to be the last developed, with those parcels closest to existing developments built up first.
At the same time, the city has also shelved a long-proposed southwest connector road over the Seven Persons Creek, which was originally to handle both traffic volumes, but also expedite the route of fire trucks from Fire Station No. 3 at the airport.
There are 220 home lots envisioned for the entire site that sits 800 metres north of S. Boundary Road.
The initial batch could be available to builders this summer.
In 2012 the department rewrote a plan to build a fourth fire station in the far south and instead augmented its response times by moving the station on Dunmore Road to Trans-Canada Way in order to meet the standard time for more homes.
That was part of a larger plan that also saw the Maple Avenue Station move just north of the South Saskatchewan River to serve north-side homes more quickly, while preserving times in the city’s central areas.
