INSIDE

Parks board buys Julius fire station

By Meg Olson

Local parks commissioners have decided to go ahead with the purchase of the Julius fire station on Gulf Road, even if they can’t really do anything with it yet.

“There’s nothing that can be done quickly,” said parks and recreation district commissioner Mark Robbins at their February 8 meeting. “The property came on the market and we have a historical interest. We can either buy it now or lose the option.”

The fire district has accepted an offer of $98,000 for the building from the parks department, which had until February 15 to evaluate the condition of the building and decide if it was a feasible use of parks department funds.

“It’s clear to me the building is being offered as-is,” said Robbins. A 2006 report commissioned by the fire district had identified a number of needed repairs and board chair Shelley Damewood said they were waiting to hear back from contractor HB Hansen with an estimate of the cost of carrying out those repairs.

Commissioner Marco Aurilio suggested the department invest up to $1,000 in a structural engineer’s report. “Does that change the viability of buying the building?” Damewood asked.

Commissioner Linda Hughes expressed concern that the district would be using all but a few thousand of its investment dollars to buy the property, when there was a list of upcoming expenses. Commissioners spent the bulk of the meeting discussing the cost of a new roof for the community center, improving storage, electrical and heating assessments.

Users of the community center have struggled with leaks, furnace failures and lighting problems. The district also faces mounting costs to prepare a site for Puget Sound Energy storage containers, their part in a deal that earned the community center a generator.

“I’m severely constrained by the need for a new roof and other expenses,” Hughes said. “If we spend all of our investment dollars on this, I’m torn.”

Damewood suggested they had options once the sale was completed, from renting the building out for awhile to working with the Whatcom County Library System to fund renovations that would transform the building into the bigger space the library has been asking for. “We can afford to sit on it,” Damewood said.

Hughes came around to supporting the sale. “We can always turn around and sell it if it all falls apart,” she said. “I don’t want to look back and cry because I nitpicked at nickels and lost this opportunity.”

Aurilio said even if it came a few years down the road, the building would be “a valuable investment over time.”

Commissioners voted to remove any contingency clauses and proceed with the purchase.

In other parks news Linda Hughes reported a new group was forming to take on the development and maintenance of the Point Roberts Skatepark. The Point Roberts Skatepark created a page on Facebook on January 9 with a stated purpose of getting young people together in the community to work together on the Baker Field skatepark. The group already has over 20 friends, including many Point Roberts kids.

“I think this is great because that way the kids really own it,” Damewood said.