Simcoe County council has passed a motion to move forward with the Bradford paramedic station project.
With the current leased building not being suitable for call demand and projected growth in Bradford West Gwillimbury and the surrounding area, an updated facility has been in consideration for many years. The paramedic facility plan previously outlined a new building development in Bradford West Gwillimbury over 2018-19.
After a significant search, land was acquired for the new facility in April 2021. Final planning and approvals are underway, with construction set to begin in late 2022.
The Bradford station project currently budgeted at $3.75 million for hard construction costs could potentially be impacted by market inflation to the tune of $828,000 to $1.7 million. The construction tender process for the Bradford paramedic station will occur in the fall, a time when the market typically cools off, and it is hoped costs will have levelled off somewhat by that point.
County councillors Basil Clarke, mayor of Ramara, and Jane Dunlop, deputy mayor of Severn, both suggested the project be deferred at least a year due to the current market.
“One of the issues we’re having is a shortage of building supplies and there’s also an issue of a shortage of labour,” Clarke said. “We shouldn’t be competing with the private sector when there’s shortages in these fields. The long-term care projects are totally different — those are the ones that need to go ahead — but ones that can wait, I really think we should back off until the marketplace can catch up.
“I think we’ll find the building materials will actually start dropping in price again. We’re all in support of affordable housing, (but) when we’re out in that same marketplace competing, we’re not helping that issue. We need to back off and let the market catch up and then carry on with these projects.”
Bradford Mayor Rob Keffer used an example of a recent town project coming in under budget as a reason not to delay the paramedic station.
“I think it’s an uncertain world that we do have out there. I know that the Town of Bradford just tendered out a fairly major highway project — $17 million — and that came in, actually, under budget, so you never really know what the market is going to show you when you do go out to tender,” he said. “I think this project has been on the books for a long time for the Town of Bradford and the land has been acquired and I think to start delaying projects like this is a slippery slope — that we’ll get behind with some of the other paramedic station developments that we have planned.”
With the land for the project already secured, Jane Sinclair, the county’s general manager of health and emergency services, said with the new location, it will cut down response times and, given the state of the current Bradford facility, it would be as good a time as any to move it forward.
“We take direction from council in terms of deferring this to a different time. However, this particular station has been deferred for quite a number of years. We’ve had significant challenges acquiring property in the ideal location," she said. “I would emphasize location is a really important component because it does impact our response times.”
With the unknowns of how the market will change, Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman argued delaying an important project any further could be a mistake with no guarantee the market will drop in the near future.
“While the construction prices may not come down, who has a crystal ball? I would suspect that the economic conditions six months from now are not going to be better, and I think it’s being tendered at a time that will get us the best price for our taxpayers,” said Lehman. “It’s a long-awaited and needed project. I think the Town of Bradford, with its fast growth and the fast growth of south Simcoe, needs these types of facilities to ensure high-quality service.”
