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Town scales back scope of new fire station project

February 13, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Town staff have scaled back the scope of Orangeville’s new fire station proposal with the hope of trimming construction costs.

The changes through scaling back the project required certain elements to be redesigned, which cost $213,895. Deputy Mayor Todd Taylor suggested council take some time to digest the descaling details before making a decision.

“I wish we had more time,” he said.

Heather Savage, the town’s community service general manager, said during council’s Feb. 10 meeting that time-sensitive issues have cropped up that pressure the fire station construction project.

Council voted to approve the money for an architectural redesign to accommodate the changes.

Construction of the town’s new fire station ballooned from an estimated $16 million cost in 2022 to $31.6 million in 2024. The initial estimate included only construction costs and not the project’s total price tag.

The cost was updated significantly higher because it included all costs: land acquisition, site works, design program, permits, contingency, and construction. Inflation, exploration of net zero building standards, and required remediation of drainage issues also caused the project costs to increase.

Given the significant increase in the cost estimate and no additional sources of funding other than property tax-supported debt, staff took a look at the scope of the project to reduce costs.

Savage said staff, the architect, and the project manager “aggressively” identified 23 items and architectural features that could be reduced or removed from the initial design.

Staff reduced square footage by removing the community engagement centre, truck display room, and the decontamination bay. They converted the outdoor concrete pads to asphalt and removed landscaping features and a retaining wall.

The administrative building was removed but its footprint was preserved for construction when possible.

The four-fold bay doors were changed to overhead roll-up aluminum doors. Staff removed all metal sloped roofs from the plan, except for at the training tower. Exterior pre-cast wall panel designs were also simplified.

The scaled-back plan trimmed about 6,000 square feet from the initial plan and removed certain passive areas and architectural and landscape features.

“This exercise reduced the square footage 23,325 square feet, approximately, and ideally will reduce the overall project costs from the estimated $32 million, which is the last I reported, to an approximate $25 million,” Savage said.

There is $25 million in the council-approved 10-year capital plan, she said, and it is the staff’s goal to work towards that dollar amount.

Fire station construction projects in other Ontario municipalities are in line with that estimate, she said.

Should the cost creep above the $25 million limit, Savage said staff would work to further scale the project back on some more items to bring the cost down.

“If the descoping exercise results in a favourable estimate, the project will move to the final stages,” she said.

Some of the time-sensitive pressures stem from the arrangement with the province to obtain Skills Development Grant Fund money of almost $3.7 million toward the work. As per the grant, Savage said the town has to be at the tender drawing stage of the project by June 1.

“We’re at a crossroads,” she said. “Any further delay in the project will see significant price increases, risk losing the grant funding, and possibly put us in breach with our contract with Metrolinx.”

Mayor Lisa Post said it is imperative that the town move forward with the $213,895 to pay for architectural design changes. But if council is not happy with the project limited to $25 million, she suggests not bothering to greenlight the cheque for the redesign.

“Stop the project,” Post said, if council isn’t happy with the lowered price. “Kill it now and be finished with it because we’re running into that time where we’re continuing to put money into something that we have haven’t yet moved forward. We’re kind of at a fork in the road as council.”

“We need to move on with this,” said Councillor Andy Macintosh, a retired Orangeville fire chief. “It’s been long enough now. We currently have the oldest fire hall in Dufferin County.”

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