Rather than allow the municipally owned Falconbridge fire hall to fall into private hands, a group of seniors want it to continue serving the community.
Located directly across the street from the Nickel Centre Seniors Club, members want the shuttered fire hall to be transformed into “a vibrant hub,” to host their woodworking shop and a community arts centre.
Although they’ve asked the city to gift them the building, club vice-president Barb Fraser clarified to Sudbury.com that the city could also keep the building and lease it to them. The city has lease agreements with other groups for municipally owned buildings, she said, citing precedent for such things.
Ultimately, she said, whatever gets them into the building.
Sudbury.com met with four Nickel Centre Seniors Club members at their building at 20 Edison Rd. in Falconbridge on Friday to learn more about their club and intentions with the fire hall, which is located directly across the street at 21 Edison Rd.
“Our families have lived here for generations, a lot of them, and the fire hall is a significant part of that,” Fraser said, adding that her father was a firefighter at the hall when she was growing up.
“That almost became a community centre because the people who worked there were our fathers, brothers, husbands and relatives,” she added. “Before amalgamation, they would host Christmas parties and hold events there.”
“Remember the fireworks we used to have?” member Kim Monaghan added.
“Our vision, which we’re still developing as a centre, is to have a pottery studio, stained glass (equipment), maybe have a 3D printer," Fraser said.
“Or a lapidary,” member Dave Falat added, which he explained to be like a rock tumbler and other tools used for shaping minerals in a creative way.
The ultimate goal, Fraser added, is to “create a hub for that type of thing.”
Interest in the club is booming, with their membership roughly doubling in the last couple of years to its current total of approximately 100 people aged 50-plus.
Members credit the boost in membership largely due to the introduction of woodworking lessons at a workshop they maintain in an out building behind their main clubhouse. They enlisted woodworker Neil Kennedy to head classes.
Member Nancy Falat led the effort to expand use of this underutilized space, and said Kennedy’s classes have proved so popular that their workshop has begun feeling cramped.
If they’re able to secure the fire hall, the main vehicle bay area would be transformed into an expanded woodworking shop, with other artistic purposes filling out the building's other rooms, which include offices.
It’s not only a busy and growing club, Fraser said, but one of great importance to the community as a whole.
“It provides a community for seniors and a connection,” she said, describing situations where members have banded together to help each other out, such as in linking people with transportation when they were in need. “We help each other.”
Although most of their members live in Falconbridge, Fraser said their woodworking shop and classes have also been attracting seniors from throughout Greater Sudbury in recent months.
The Nickel Centre Seniors Club implies its membership is composed of seniors, but Fraser clarified that their age threshold for membership makes it more of a 50-plus club.
During budget re-adoption deliberations earlier this month, city council members voted to close the Falconbridge fire hall. It will join the Copper Cliff and Val Caron stations in closing by the end of the month.
Already slated to close in the longer term as part of a $164.6-million emergency services revitalization plan, these closures are taking place early, prior to the construction of new fire halls and the renovation of others, to shave a projected $73,833 from the city’s annual budget.
The two active members of the Falconbridge station are amalgamating with the crew in Garson, at their station. In the longer term, a new station will be built in an ideal location in Garson.
This leaves the two-bay Falconbridge station vacant and on the chopping block to be sold.
Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée tabled a petition by the Nickel Centre Seniors Club during city council’s final scheduled meeting of the year on Dec. 10. which requested the city to donate them the Falconbridge fire hall building.
(In conversation with Sudbury.com, Fraser praised Labbée for working with the group to help them secure the building.)
“The community of Falconbridge has been hit hard the most since amalgamation with losing a lot of their facilities,” Labbée said during the Dec. 10 meeting, adding that the active Nickel Centre Seniors Club has “outgrown their current location.”
By allowing them to take over the fire hall building, she said they might even draw more seniors from a wider catchment area.
The petition was signed by approximately 30 people, though Fraser told Sudbury.com that it was put together quickly and that she’s confident more people would sign it if given the chance.
The petition was forwarded to fire Chief Joseph Nicholls for review, according to a follow-up letter by city deputy clerk Brigitte Sobush.
Petitions don’t necessarily mean action, beyond staff consideration. It’ll be up to Nicholls’ discretion what becomes of the request, be it action, reaching out to the seniors club for more information, a report to city council or no action at all.
However, staff ultimately follow the direction of city council, and their standing direction is for staff to follow through on a business case to reduce the timeline to merge fire stations, which stipulates the buildings should be “declared redundant and sold as soon as possible.”
During the Dec. 2 budget meeting, Nicholls said that as soon as staff members at the three fire halls have transitioned to other buildings, “we’ll be looking to declare those buildings surplus immediately and looking to expedite their disposal.”
Labbée told Sudbury.com by emailed correspondence on Saturday that she's optimistic the seniors are successful in getting the old fire hall.
"There's some processes to follow in order to first declare the fire hall as surplus and the city Real Estate division has started those steps," she said.
"Once that is completed, I anticipate and understand that a report will be presented to the planning committee in March for their consideration. The Nickel Centre Seniors will also be provided with all of the costs associated with operating the building, as well as any capital improvements that need to be taken into consideration to see if it's something they want to pursue.
"I am optimistic that it can be a good fit because the community has already lost so many resources over the last twenty years or so," Labbée added. "They've outgrown their space with an impressive growing interest in the woodworking program and if they can create their own 'cultural hub' of activities that goes beyond that, and keep seniors active in their community, while inviting other seniors from across the city to participate, I feel it's a win-win for the city and especially for the community of Falconbridge. I am looking forward to having more conversations with the group, members of the planning committee and council as this request progresses."
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
