A fleet maintenance building used by the City of Coquitlam won’t be coming down anytime soon.
Instead, the city’s council-in-committee on Monday, Sept. 9, advanced a staff plan to keep the civic facility at the Austin Works Yard and “save” up to $8 million to replace it.
The move to repurpose — rather than demolish and rebuild — the structure, at a cost of $2.1 million, comes as city hall struggles with rising labour and material costs, as well as a lack of development revenues as a result of the new provincial housing legislation, said Lanny Englund, Coquitlam’s general manger of parks, recreation, culture and facilities.
Another $700,000 will be added to the project bill to pave surrounding gravel areas, while $120,000 will be tacked on to the 2025 base budget for ongoing operating costs.
Built in the 1950s at 500 Mariner Way, the Austin Works Yard is Coquitlam’s primary operations centre; the fleet maintenance building was its first permanent building, which went up in the 1960s and, since then, has undergone updates, Englund said.
In 2017, city staff said the fleet maintenance building had reached the end of its life and could no longer meet the city’s fleet servicing needs, but the building update was deferred after the new Austin Operations Building went up in 2022 as part of the Austin Works Yard Renewal Project, with expanded fleet maintenance and workshop facilities.
While the Austin Operations Building is now in use, the fleet building remains vacant.
In his report to the committee, Englund said the city hired an architectural firm in March to study whether the fleet building could be kept for indoor storage and welding work.
Once the city got the go-ahead, staff looked at electrical and mechanical improvements rather than a demolition and a full building replacement, budgeted at up to $10 million.
Englund said because the building is shielded from public view from Austin Avenue, its exterior won’t be modernized.
“It’s a practical investment […] The structure is sound.”
Mayor Richard Stewart said he’s pleased with the adjustment given the municipal cash constraints and uncertainties.
“It’s in an industrial site and it’s going to be put to an industrial use,” Stewart said before the committee endorsement (Couns. Brent Asmundson and Trish Mandewo were not present).
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