cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
City council signed off on a deal to sell the former Maple Avenue fire station in exchange for cash and the Medicine Hat Food Bank’s current location, as the agency plans to begin a major expansion.
The sale of the vacant firehall was approved by a 7-1 count, though several other councillors expressed regret that the 39,000 square-foot municipal building wouldn’t be redeveloped as private sector business.
Mayor Ted Clugston said it was a matter of accepting the “first best offer” on a property the city no longer needs and others said it was being put to good use, even if tax revenue wouldn’t result.
“We are getting a building that could be put into the tax base, so there’s an offset,” said Clugston.
Only Coun. Kris Samraj voted against the sale, which would see the city receive $800,000 in cash and take over the current S. Railway Street location, which the food bank says is now too small and can’t accommodate plans to expand programming.
Samraj said the city should do a better job of evaluating and planning where social services are located and potential effects on the community.
“We haven’t been very intentional about where these services are placed. Often the city doesn’t have control, but in this case we do,” he said. “We’re just reacting to these deals as they come up, but there are impacts to developments like this.”
Coun. Jamie McIntosh said he was also concerned about reinvigoration efforts in the River Flats community, but supported the move.
Coun. Brian Varga said the plan seemed to work for the food bank.
“It’s a good opportunity for them to expand their services that will be needed,” said Varga.
Both Couns. Jim Turner and Phil Turnbull said they supported the food bank’s work and would support the sale, but had concerns about selling prime commercial land to a social endeavour other than to business development.
Food bank officials attended the meeting, and executive director Celina Symmonds said she’s “excited” to see the sale close in October.
“We’re doing our due diligence until then,” she told the News earlier in the Day. “Based on social media response, there is a lot of support. But we’ll take this time to go out in the community to make sure it’s the right fit.”
That will include meetings with neighbouring business owners as well as potentially a town hall for others.
The concept of a “Community Food and Wellness Hub” was first discussed five years ago and would augment traditional food bank activities with educational programs regarding budgeting, food preparation and food sustainability.
An initial stage would see food bank operations move into the facility, including warehousing, coolers and an industrial kitchen, said Symmonds, with other facets added as funding and partnerships are secured.
The city had been asking $1.5 million for the property that closed as a firehall in mid-2018.
Kiwanis Centre tabled
A plan to sell a former school house that currently houses non-profit groups in the city has been tabled again, this time until October.
In early July, council was presented with a plan to sell the Kiwanis Centre, located in the former Elizabeth Street School, as excess property and in an effort to spur private sector redevelopment.
But, that property was separated from a group of three for further discussion after the service club and society that manages the building asked for time to present a plan for the future of the building.
On Monday, the item was tabled again, specifically to be brought up again at the Oct. 17 council meeting.
