The chair of the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary agrees with two directors who feel the price tag on a new Grand Forks office is too high, but feels there is still plenty of opportunity to explore alternatives.
This week, rural Grand Forks director Linda Kay Wiese and city director Everett Baker said the estimated $15 million to $17 million to either build a new office, renovate the existing one, or buy and renovate a different building is unreasonable.
“It is definitely too expensive,” chair Andy Morel said in an interview. “But that is the nature of the beast these days, it seems, with all these large capital projects, especially when it comes to construction.”
Morel said Wiese and Baker’s comments were not surprising, since similar sentiments were expressed at the last RDKB board meeting.
Wiese and Baker both pointed to the new Rossland city hall as a possible model for the RDKB to follow. The city partnered with the Lower Columbia Affordable Housing Society on the project, which saw municipal offices built on the ground floor and workforce housing on the floors above.
Morel, who is also the mayor of Rossland, said the partnership made the project much more affordable for the city, which contributed $3 million of the total $16.4 million bill.
“No question it would have been considerably more expensive for the City of Rossland to build a purpose-built city hall only. Having BC Housing involved in the actual construction process took a lot of pressure off our own city staff. It helped with financing and seeing the project through, so there are a lot of advantages to doing that way.”
Morel said RDKB staff have been asked to look at other options for the Grand Forks office, including partnering with BC Housing on a new build. He doesn’t see any reason it can’t be done, especially given the need for housing in Grand Forks and the Boundary in general.
While the current Grand Forks office, built in 1969, will at least require updating, Morel said the RDKB should rethink the conventional workspace model and look at ways for people to work remotely.
“Things are changing. COVID was a stark reminder that maybe the traditional methods of office space and requirements when it comes to staffing may not be as necessary was we originally thought.”
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