The territory’s oldest RCMP detachment is being replaced.
The government announced this week it will be rebuilding the RCMP’s hub in Faro.
RCMP Insp. Al Lucier says Faro was chosen for a new building after an assessment of police detachment buildings in the territory.
The current building was built in 1971. It is the oldest building by nine years. The next oldest detachment is in Carcross.
Lucier said the department looked at all three-person detachments in the territory.
“Faro is an old building. Number one, it is modular construction, we don’t have modular construction buildings in Yukon anymore,” he said.
“It was built back when a member of the detachment actually lived in the detachment, so there’s living quarters that were attached to the building and have since been renovated into office space. We had no other building like that in the Yukon.”
The detachment also has no access for people with disabilities, something that is required by the federal government for RCMP stations.
“There were so many factors that pointed to Faro.”
The Yukon government’s 2014-15 capital budget includes $318,000 for the planning and design of the new building.
The government has also earmarked $3.575 million for next year’s construction.
Yukon is providing 70 per cent of the capital money for construction and the eventual operation and maintenance costs. The federal government will provide the remaining 30 per cent in line with the Territorial Police Services Agreement.
That puts the total cost of the building at $5.56 million.
The government says it will eventually adapt the new detachment design for other communities.
The current detachment measures about 200 square metres. Early estimates peg the new building at about 350 square metres.
The RCMP sometimes will consider renovation options or lease or rental options when looking for new space. But in this case that’s not possible, Lucier said.
“With just about all the communities in the North, we’re not in a position where we can go out and find either commercial or Government of Canada lease space where we can create a detachment that has a secure cell component, an area for exhibits and certain security requirements that are needs of a policing office.”
A location for the new detachment will be decided as part of the planning process, Lucier said.
“Ideally we will build the new detachment as close to the old one as possible. Whether we can co-locate it on the site or an adjacent site is yet to be determined by the planning and design.”
The fate of the old building hasn’t been decided yet.
Contact Ashley Joannou at
ashleyj@yukon-news.com