Charlottetown council approves 3rd fire station

Charlottetown council has finally decided to have three fire halls in the city, but the third one may not be built where originally thought.

A new location for station being negotiated

Natalia Goodwin · CBC News · Posted: Jul 09, 2019 6:34 AM EDT | Last Updated: July 9, 2019

There is no timeline yet on when the new station would be built. (Pat Martel/CBC)

Charlottetown council has finally decided to have three fire halls in the city, but the third one may not be built where originally thought.

Council voted to move ahead with three stations instead of two at its monthly meeting Monday night

This plan has been two years in the making, and required several reports. The city purchased land in June of 2017 at Route 2 and Sherwood Road with the idea to build a new station to replace Station 2 in Sherwood.

But some councillors at the time thought that a better idea was to have three given the population growth in the city. The city ordered a feasibility study from the fire chief and an insurance study.

Equal coverage

At the recent strategic priorities and intergovernmental cooperation committee meeting in June there were discussions in a closed session and it was decided to go with three stations, which was then sent to council to vote on.

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"Obviously the increase in population around our city and the struggles to ensure that we get to areas around the city at equal amounts of time," said Alanna Jankov, explaining the committee's reasons for the decision.

Alanna Jankov, chair of the strategic priorities committee, says equal coverage was the main reason for the decision. (Natalia Goodwin/CBC )

"We want to make sure that we can get out to West Royalty as quick as we can get to downtown Charlottetown as quick as we can get to East Royalty and Parkdale and Sherwood. That would that was one of the biggest reasons for looking at the three-station system."

New location proposed

Where the new station will go is still up in the air, and a new idea is in the works.

"We're presently in negotiations with other stakeholders, to maybe partner with EMS," Jankov said

Charlottetown fire hall decision waiting on reports from chief, insurance company

If negotiations end successfully, the city would purchase land at the current EMS site on Sherwood Road and build an addition to the building. If that plan falls through, they would build on the land they already purchased on Route 2.

Another purchase in the works

The city is also thinking ahead to the future.

In a second motion council voted to submit an expression of interest to the province to purchase provincially-owned land on St. Peter's Road, between Norwood Road and the Charlottetown Arterial Highway. The thought is to secure the land for a future fire station if needed.

Station 2 would remain for now, unless the province wants the land back. (CBC)

"That's where the new roundabout is going in. And when we met with Minister Myers, the minister of transportation, we expressed an interest in that piece of land in case they decide to take ownership back of the Sherwood fire station, which is a property that they own." Jankov said

Jankov said negotiations with EMS are going well, but she didn't have a timeline for when they would wrap up, nor could she reveal the price tag associated with the plan.