By Andrew Macdonald
Halifax Water Commission wants to spend $70M on a new headquarters when the cost of living makes it harder for folk to live in Hallifax.
HRM has also become a tent city for some folk who are unhoused, so the multi-million price tag for a new HQ for the water commission could be viewed as a misstep.
The water commission wanted an even larger headquarters, but the Utility & Review Board pared that plan down by 20 per cent. The commission originally envisioned spending a commanding $86M on a new operations centre, consolidating four depots.
While renting existing office space might seem more digestible for struggling taxpayers, the water commission is moving forward with a new operations centre on Jennett Avenue in Burnside.
“The project’s total estimated cost was $89 million, and the board had previously approved nearly $3 million,” reported CBC over the summer. “Following an analysis commissioned by the board that found aspects of the project to be ‘excessive’, Halifax Water agreed to reduce the project’s scope, bringing the cost down to $87 million.
“But the board found still more that it wanted cut out of the utility’s plans. The regulator said $9.9 million in hard construction costs could be saved by reducing the building’s size by about 1,100 square metres, or 12 per cent. Halifax Water wanted to build a 9,200-square-metre facility.”
HRM mayoral contender Pam Lovelace tells The Macdonald Notebook that a new operations centre for the regional water commission is needed.
“I am very familiar with the file as a Halifax Water commissioner,” says Lovelace. “I am well aware of the application that went forward to the Utility & Review Board to allow this consolidation of buildings and services.”
Pam Lovelace wants to be Mayor of Halifax. (Avery Mullen/The Notebook).
I asked Lovelace if it the new HQ is necessary and whether she favours that project, or whether the water commission should just rent office space from an existing commercial landlord.
“The cost of upgrading and maintaining to today’s standards of these older buildings is more than what it would be to actually consolidate services in one building,” explains Lovelace. “What we are doing is looking at a consolidation to create a net zero building that will be much more efficient for operations which will in the end reduce operating costs year to year.”
Lovelace clearly supports the new operations centre project.
“We need to reduce our annual operating costs and this is one way to do it. These older buildings and its surplus lots, if sold, will net more funding for operations.”
