Simcoe County will have to find somewhere else to build a paramedic station in downtown Barrie.
At Monday night’s general committee meeting, city councillors declined a report recommending the sale of 72 and 76 Maple Ave., south of Ross Street, to the county to build a paramedic station.
Coun. Barry Ward said what would essentially be a small garage doesn’t fit in with the city’s plan for Maple Avenue.
Even if the property sits undeveloped for another decade, Ward said he would rather see a project there that brings density to the area.
The properties are now used as a city parking lot with a utilization rate is approximately eight per cent, according to a 2011 study. That number may have increased due to the arrival of Georgian College’s downtown campus across the street.
The county’s lease on its Tiffin Street ambulance station, near Anne Street, expires in February 2022.
“In order to be best prepared for the vacating of (the Tiffin Street) facility and ensure we are serving the community appropriately, we will need to have the hub in place and running -- the completion of the Barrie-Simcoe Emergency Services Campus is scheduled for early 2020 -- and a post located and built in the downtown area,” Andrew Robert, director and chief of Simcoe County Paramedic Services, told BarrieToday on Tuesday.
County paramedics use a hub-and-post system.
The hub is a larger facility with lockers, classrooms, several vehicle bays and staff parking where paramedics will check their ambulances and equipment as well as restock supplies at the beginning of their shift. They will then deploy into the community and respond to 911 calls.
The hub will be located at the new Barrie Simcoe Emergency Response Campus on Fairview Road once complete.
A post, which is what the county wants to be placed downtown, are fixed positions in an area where there is a high concentration of calls. A post is a smaller facility with, ideally, one vehicle bay as well as washrooms, a kitchenette and a computer room.
“The posts are located in areas in consideration of call volume activity and emergency coverage in relation to other posts,” Robert said.
Ward said there should be plenty of other properties downtown that would better suit an ambulance station.
City staff will continue to work with the county to find a site in the downtown for an ambulance station.
The matter will come back to city council on March 26.
