A committee of the whole meeting was held in council chambers Monday night to discuss the progress of the Station House and to decide on an appropriate course of action for the legacy project.
The historical building is currently being upgraded for the use of the The Hope Visitor Centre & Museum Complex and is structurally sound, according to the District.
There is potential to engage other stakeholders in the future, and to procure other key community businesses and organizations to make use of the space in the building, once renovations have been finalized.
This will leave the building open to further community engagement, and the possibility for the eligibility of meatier community grants toward the improvement of the interior of the building down the line according to Mayor Wilfried Vicktor.
For the time being, council moved that staff prepare and issue a design/build Request For Proposal (RFP) including conceptual drawings to repair the exterior of the Station House building up to the amount of $217,000.
“It has been decided that the heating system within the Station House be brought up to service; and the Director of Operations confirm if Kerkhoff Engineering has the capability in-house to provide conceptual architectural drawings, and if so to provide a cost estimate for said drawings,” said Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) John Fortoloczky.
A public consultation will be planned at the Station House sometime in August to inform the community on the latest updates and to gather input on what the public is interested in seeing happen with the future development of the Station House.
“I'm glad council is moving forward with the completion of the exterior, so we can make good use of the weather — our top priority is the exterior envelope completion at this time,” said Vicktor.