North Cowichan has an excellent opportunity to save money, co-locate emergency services and reverse a previous land purchase that was questioned by many.
The new police station should be co-located with the new Cowichan District Hospital on Bell McKinnon Road. The new CDH site has been studied extensively and confirmed to be perfectly located for emergency vehicle access from all directions.
The CDH site has excellent geotechnical conditions and the 22-acre site has plenty of room to share with other emergency service providers, including police and ambulance. Institutional zoning is already in place for the CDH lands and the recently completed Local Area Plan for the Bell McKinnon corridor supports this type of use. The opportunity to share costs with the new CDH construction allows obvious savings as both facilities will be required to meet very high post-disaster facility standards.
This co-location will also allow NC to sell that beautiful fertile agricultural property it currently plans to use for the police station. When that land was purchased many felt it was a total waste to use such perfect agricultural land for pavement and institutional buildings.
Here is the chance to correct that decision.
Dave Jackson
Duncan