Quiet ceremony marks the end of renos – for the second time
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held this week at the recently refurbished Klatt Emergency Building in Lions Bay.
Attended by Mayor Ken Berry and Councillor Michael Broughton as well as MLA Jeremy Valeriote, architect Scott Gordon, Deputy Corporate Officer Kristal Kenna, Director of Operations Karl Buhr and Chief Administrative Officer Ross Blackwell, the event was held at noon on Monday, and not announced to the public.
According to Financial Officer Joe Chirkoff, Gordon stepped in last year to provide "supplementary information and schedules" when the original drawings of the project were not completed due to the suspension of the original architect's license.
In fact, this is the second ribbon-cutting for the Klatt renovation, with the first held late last year, and attended by Berry and Broughton representing Council, and with Fire Chief Barret Germscheid also in attendance.
This week's event was not attended by members of the Lions Bay Fire Rescue (LFBR), BC Ambulance, or Emergency Support Services (ESS).
The Klatt building was originally built in 1990, and was named for Councillor Dale Klatt, who served the village as a councillor from 1985 to 1992.
The renovation was completed as a result of the awarding of a federal/provincial grant at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in April, 2021. Valued at just under $500,000, the grant was to intended to improve air quality in the LBFR part of the building, to build an addition to the emergency building, as well as to expand the apparatus bays and retrofit the Emergency Operations Centre, BC Ambulance, and Search and Rescue Services. This would mean all the emergency services using the building would have more space to store equipment and hold meetings.
However, the project was slow to get started, and an extension to the grant was received in 2023, moving the construction completion window to the end of 2024.
During this time construction and other costs increased, and in the end a modified design was adopted. Original plans had called for the enclosing of a room for meetings and storage on the second floor, but the final result shows an open deck.
At last November's Committee of the Whole meeting, Blackwell said that the repaving of the driveway area in front of the building and a small landscaping element of the project remained unfinished. It's not clear if those elements are still on schedule for completion now that the grant window has closed.
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I am also a person who thinks it’s very strange a ribbon cutting for the Klatt Building was done without any of our extremely valued first responders there. The residents of Lions Bay were not even invited. Lots of residents could have been present at a ribbon cutting to show our support of our first responders!
Am I the only one who thinks it’s strange that the ribbon cutting at the Klatt building was done without any members of the emergency service departments in attendance? No members of the fire/rescue department, no members of BC ambulance service, no search and rescue members nor anyone representing emergency. support services. What a strange “community” this has become!