Work on new town hall for Lake Cowichan will begin in the spring.
Mayor Ross Forrest told the crowd at the Nov. 30 town hall meeting at Centennial Hall that the project will start with the demolition of the old fire hall bays — which are the closest section of the current building to the Cowichan River.
“We need to have a better facility. Lucky for us, the council of about 14 years ago started putting away money for this and it’s continued. We will not be borrowing any money for this,” Forrest said.
Forrest has said several times recently that a new municipal hall is long overdue.
“This town has never had a proper council chambers,” he said, pointing out that councillors had used the Mildred Child Annex (the old library), and then part of the old fire hall for meetings.
“Also, it’s really crucial to have some place for privacy. There’s none now,” he said.
“It’s time and we’re moving forward with it. The bays will be coming down first. We’ll remain in our [current] offices, though, but renovate them as we go along.”
Asked if the town would keep its fire siren, Forrest said that some location would be found for it.
“We’d still have a siren in town,” he said.