Renovating Nanaimo Search and Rescue's home base on Fourth St. will be completed in a single phase after city councillors agreed to fast-track its funding portion. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

SAR scores cash

Construction timeline fast-tracked for Nanaimo SAR building reno

Jun 8, 2021 | 4:34 PM

NANAIMO — Overhauling Nanaimo Search and Rescue’s headquarters won’t take nearly as long as originally planned.

City councillors on Monday, June 7 officially allocated more than $1.3 million in required City funds from its 2022 budget to this year to complete upgrades to the Fourth St. facility.

Nanaimo SAR president Carly Trobridge said the advanced money means the $2.6 million project is scheduled to be done by late this summer, a full year ahead of schedule.

“This means all of our vehicles will be inside. We’ve actually gone ahead and purchased a new boat in anticipation of this project being complete early. Everything will have a home.”

Trobridge said there’s a large sense of relief at not having to work under a partially finished space for much longer.

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“It’s a multi-pronged effect, it really allows our response times to decrease allowing us to get faster to tasks, but it also allows us to increase our training abilities internally,” Trobridge told NanaimoNewsNOW.

She said additional bays for vehicles and dedicated training space will pay off immediately.

Expanding and updating the former Harewood Activity Centre site has been underway since January when phase one of the project broke ground.

Establishing a long-term home base for Nanaimo SAR has been in the works for several years.

Nanaimo SAR explored building a new location at City-owned land on Nanaimo Lakes Rd., however upon further investigation the plan wasn’t financially feasible.

In 2019, a 25-year co-management agreement was struck between Nanaimo SAR and the City for the non-profit organization to operate out of the Fourth St. location.

Nanaimo SAR has been the exclusive tenant of the building for more than a year.

The cost of revamping Nanaimo SAR’s home base is split between the non-profit group and the City.

Nanaimo SAR is using an anonymous donation of $1 million to cover most of its costs.

A City staff report indicated there could be financial savings by upgrading the project at once, avoiding demobilization costs and potential increased construction costs.

The non-profit organization responded to a record 57 calls for help involving wilderness and urban searches for people in distress.

This year could eclipse last year’s pace with 30 call-outs to Nanaimo SAR made so far this year, Trobridge said.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes