In recent Council meetings it would seem that some of
our present Council, and city staff, are firmly committed to sell our Heritage Fire
Hall #1 building. It appears the time is
now for you to ask Cranbrook citizens for input into this momentous decision to
determine the fate of OUR heritage building. I will include a brief description of its
inception for those of you who may not have heard of the building’s early
history.
In 1929 the new Council, under the leadership of Mayor
Roberts, broached the subject of the need for a new fire hall. By early March
Council had decided to draw up a by-law to raise $31,000, by the sale of
debentures, to build the fire hall and to submit the question to the ratepayers
for their approval.
Complete details of the By-Law No. 388 were printed in
the March 14th Cranbrook Courier.
Cranbrook citizens were given the opportunity to vote, by ballot, to
accept this By-Law on March 25th. The vote carried with a resounding 90% in favour of
borrowing the funds so that Cranbrook could now have a fire hall worthy of the
growing community. Mayor Roberts and his Council enjoyed the confidence of the
ratepayers.
This was to be a totally Cranbrook-built fire hall. The
design was by City Superintendent Philpot and the City Works Department, plans
drawn up by Colborne, a Cranbrook businessman, and local builder Jones won the construction
bid and used locally processed lumber and Cranbrook bricks.
The Cranbrook Courier of November 11, 1929 proudly
displayed a photo of the new fire hall labelling it “The Lasting
Structure”. Since then the paper
frequently reported on Cranbrook’s fire hall, the men who worked there and the
adjoining gardens. It became a place people were encouraged to visit. For several years it also provided a home for
Fire Chief Gordon and his family.
Through the ensuing years Councils had the
foresight to purchase the properties belonging to MacPherson’s Funeral Home,
the Baptist Church, the Knights of Pythias building, the Masonic Hall and a
small home that was preventing the City owning a continuous frontage on 11th
Avenue. How fortunate our City Fathers
of the day had this foresight as it allowed our City Hall to be expanded, a
small park to be developed, parking for the firemen and lots on which to build
our present Police Station. In 1986 our
Fire Hall #1 gained protection by Heritage Designation.
Our present Council, and staff, appear to be in a rush
to push through the sale of the Fire Hall.
I was amazed to read Kevin Weaver’s report, on the City webpage,
recommending the building be sold and this was before any Cranbrook groups had the
opportunity to make presentations to Council. Other recent Councils would have
suggested that the question of what to do with this Heritage building be passed
along to their Wellness and Heritage Committee for input. These Council committees were set up to
provide exactly this type of feedback to you.
In your rush to put the building on the market you seem to have
precluded taking this obvious step.
So now the time appears to have come for you to decide, what should happen to our building. I
have not heard any mention of going back to the public for our thoughts on this. The citizens of Cranbrook voted to borrow the
money to build this civic building. Even if present Council does not legally
have to reengage the public, and gain its input, surely you and your present
Council members must feel that it’s only morally right to do so.
So please, as a member of Council, don’t be too ready
to break up the area of OUR
city-owned properties or to dispose of one of OUR few remaining taxpayer-owned heritage buildings. I ask you to
carefully consider whether, or not, you undo the careful foresight that has
been displayed by the many previous City representatives in your Council
positions.
Dave
Humphrey
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