NEWS FILE PHOTO A sign is seen at the Coulee Ridge Development in south Medicine Hat in August 2019. City council has approved a sprinkler subsidy for Coulee Ridge home buyers
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
City Hall will give new home buyers in Coulee Ridge a $2,500 grant toward installing fire sprinklers after the motion was approved at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
Following a lengthy debate, four of seven council members approved the $100,000 item for the first 40 lots in the planned community, where residential sprinklers are a permit requirement.
Three others present said that it’s a cost better paid by the developer or homeowner considering that its being built outside general development plan timelines as well as a fire department response zone, or that the standards be changed.
Mayor Ted Clugston spent more than five minutes imploring colleagues to consider the payback in terms of increased tax assessment and economic development and to pass the proposal.
Residential sprinkler systems could also delay future firehall construction throughout the city for decades, he argued.
“If you don’t pass this, we will build another firehall,” he said. “Firefighters are telling us it’s a good idea, (having only) 19 new homes (built in 2019) was an absolute disaster … It’s a simple business decision.”
Couns. Jim Turner, Brian Varga and Julie Friesen also spoke strongly in favour of the “incentive” due to potential for increasing the tax assessment base while not adding to operating costs – like staffing a new $9-million firehall at $3 million per year – while delivering standard fire coverage.
Coun. Robert Dumanowski said council approved the development that was geographically outside the near-term development plan – which is meant to contain costs of expanding services and infrastructure – and now rising costs should be on the developers.
“There’s always a reason to do something and it is always on the backs of the taxpayers,” he said. “That’s a sleight to say that $2,500 will break the back of this development.”
The issue arose last week at council’s public services committee, where officials said fire officials considered their average response time to the Coulee Ridge development – north of S. Boundary Road – to be above eight minutes. That’s one third longer than the target of six minutes 20 seconds, but installed sprinklers could make up the difference in overall response and safety.
They were made mandatory in the planning department’s permit approval process, and other administrators suggested offering to cover about half the cost of installing sprinklers during initial construction. That’s estimated at about 1 or 1.5 per cent of total construction cost, and will now come out of council’s contingency account.
Coun. Jamie McIntosh said he supports the development but other residents shouldn’t be covering this cost in high-end home construction.
Turner cited an administration report that said at full buildout of tax revenue from the 220-lot community would be about $750,000 per year, while one-time sprinkler grants would total $550,000.
“I defy anyone to tell me how that’s going to raise their taxes,” he said. “Look at the big picture.”
Coun. Kris Samraj, who voted against the plan at the committee level, questioned the cost-benefit calculation and said a better option was to review fire response standards.
“We’re given a choice here of $9 million for a fire station and no subsidy,” said Samraj. “It makes sense to relax (response times) in certain situations.”
Friesen said the grant may look suspect to existing taxpayers, but makes sense in the broad analysis.
“There’s a cost to this incentive but in the first year that’s recovered,” she said.
The developer, Enclave Ventures, had launched the community that overlooks the Seven Persons Creek coulee as an opportunity for home buyers in Medicine Hat to view homes on larger lots and spur local building activity.
In the decision item administrators cite three council priorities, including nods to economic vitality, growing the tax base, and that as a municipal land developer, City Hall should encourage private sector development.
