Despite an intense question period, Colwood council voted unanimously Monday (Jan. 23) in favour of funding the next stage of the process to build a new West Shore RCMP detachment.

Colwood will provide $291,720 in funding to advance the project to the validation stage and appoint Mayor Doug Kobayashi and chief administrative officer Robert Earl to a Joint Police Facilities Steering Committee to develop the project.

During MondayB次元官网网址檚 meeting, Earl said the committee would guide the forthcoming request for proposals process for the various aspects of the building. The committee includes the mayors and CAOs of the Town of View Royal and the Cities of Langford and Colwood.

View Royal has already voted in favour of providing its share of the funding ($186,720) during its Jan. 17 meeting. Langford is yet to vote on whether it will provide the remainder of the funds to go ahead with the validation stage.

It initially seemed during MondayB次元官网网址檚 meeting the funding would not get approved as Couns. Kim Jordison and Cynthia Day expressed concerns about how the process was brought forward B次元官网网址� real estate company Colliers was contracted by the three communitiesB次元官网网址� former mayors and CAO to put together the proposal B次元官网网址� while Coun. David Grove reiterated Jordison and DayB次元官网网址檚 concerns about knocking down the existing West Shore RCMP detachment on Atkins Avenue in Langford and rebuilding at the same location.

B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 personally see any pending doom on this project if we are just to pause and (receive) more information,B次元官网网址� said Jordison.

Speaking during the meeting, Todd Preston, superintendent for West Shore RCMP, said the key factor for a detachment was access to highways, with the current location allowing officers to connect quickly to the Trans Canada Highway, important when considering the area the detachment has to cover a large area stretching from Metchosin to the Esquimalt-Songhees First Nation. He said Colliers looked for a suitably-sized property in the area but found no better options.

READ MORE: Colwood council delays vote to move forward on RCMP building expansion

The existing detachment building B次元官网网址� actually two buildings connected together, with one having been built in the 1960s and the other in the 1990s as an addition B次元官网网址� is currently B次元官网网址渂ursting at the seams,B次元官网网址� according to Preston, and the lack of space means the need for certain focused personnel, including a mental health outreach team and child pornography experts, may be unable to be met.

B次元官网网址淵ouB次元官网网址檙e arguably putting public safety at risk because weB次元官网网址檙e not going to be able to provide services,B次元官网网址� said Preston. B次元官网网址淎ll you really need to do is look at Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, Langley and Coquitlam, all those detachments were headed in that direction. WeB次元官网网址檙e no longer a small police force, weB次元官网网址檙e becoming a big city police force.B次元官网网址�

Another sticking point was parking. Jordison questioned whether taxpayers should be paying for free parking for police officers, saying it was a B次元官网网址渘icetyB次元官网网址� and pointing to doctors and nurses who donB次元官网网址檛 have parking paid for. Preston responded that though planning was in its early stages, he said not providing parking could hurt recruitment and lead to officers moving elsewhere.

The total cost for the validation stage is set at $1.2 million, during which a project team will be hired to produce a validation report in mid-2023 B次元官网网址� which will include plans on how the build will meet the $82 million budget, as well as design needs, contingency plans and the timeline.

That $82 million will be split $49.6 million for Langford, $12.8 million for View Royal and $20.1 million for Colwood (based on population and property assessment data), according to a statement from the City of Colwood.

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