Since the fall of 2007, the District has been engaged in an active facilities planning process focusing primarily on the highest “public safety” priority identified from the Charette - Fire Department facilities. Utilizing the services of Omicron Architecture Engineering Construction Ltd., the District has completed the following scope of work in 2007, 2008, and 2009:

In February 2008, Omicron produced anotherr Facilities Planning Process which focused on a site review and analysis of the Keating Cross Road and Public Works Yard sites and fit testing for the Fire Hall and Public Works requirements.

In October 2009, there was a Fire Station Location Review completed by Dave Mitchell and Associates Ltd. This review carefully examined all responses provided by the Central Saanich Volunteer Fire Department based on historical records from 2001 forward, to understand the ways in which responses are geographically distributed. This study makes it clear that there are three principal areas to which the fire department responds. The highest call volume location is Brentwood Bay, and responses to this area take much longer than recommended by established standards. The other two clusters of responses are the area around the current fire hall, which is well served, and the south-east corner of Central Saanich which is also well outside the response objectives. The recommendations from this study were as follows:

After carefully considering all of the technical and financial information which had been developed over the course of two years, in late October 2009, the Municipal Council made a number of key decisions on a future direction and next steps to be taken in the District’s facilities planning process. Specifically, Council endorsed the concept of a two Fire Station model for the District of Central Saanich, with a new Main Fire Hall to be constructed in one of the preferred locations in the Keating area which had been recommended, and with a satellite Fire Station to be located at the site of the existing Central Saanich Municipal Hall.

In the late spring of 2010, the District of Central Saanich completed the schematic design of a new Central Saanich Main Fire Hall together with an initial stage “class D” construction cost estimate. At a Committee Meeting held on May 25, 2010, the architects for the new Main Fire Hall, Johnston Davidson Architecture & Planning Inc., made an information presentation to Council on the schematic design and cost estimate for the Fire Hall.

In August, the District of Central Saanich completed negotiations to acquire two adjacent lots located at 1498 and 1516 Keating Cross Road, close to the intersection of Keating Cross Road and West Saanich Road. This particular 3.89 acre site is one of the three sites which were identified in the fire hall location review. More details concerning the acquisition of the site are set out in Council’s Rise and Report from the Special (Open) Council Meeting of August 23, 2010.

The District conducted a Public Information Meeting on Tuesday, September 21, 2010, at 6:30 p.m. This was to solicit public input and comments on the schematic design for the proposed New Main Fire Hall on the Keating Cross Road site. On October 4, 2010, Council considered a Staff Report on next steps, and gave approval to proceed with Phase 2 detailed design development, which is currently in progress.