The prayers at Peachland Baptist Church have been answered after the District of Peachland, B.C., decided to no longer pursue acquiring its property for a new fire hall.
“Glad and relieved for ourselves and for the community,” said Pastor Lyle Wahl. “We have always said we want to stay here.”
Council had a unanimous change of heart on Tuesday to abandon the land acquisition efforts.
“We came to the conclusion that they didn’t really want to sell and then we just respected their wishes,” said Peachland Mayor Patrick Van Minsel. “You know, that’s how it is and you go, you move on, and you look at the future.”
Wahl said it was a lengthy process that started several years ago.
“It started with our first approach just over four years ago,” said Wahl. “The church has been here in the community for over 100 years. In fact, the church existed before the District of Peachland was officially organized.”
Plans to replace the existing firehall have been on the books for years.
“The current firehall is old and outdated. It’s too small. It was never intended to be a firehall,” said Van Minsel.
Peachland residents voted in favour of borrowing up to $17.5-million for the new fire hall in October 2022.
The district wanted to acquire the church property because it borders land it already owns along Highway 97 and San Clemente Avenue.
“Expropriating a church or forcing a church out of this location has always been a sensitive issue,” Wahl said.
While the church supports the construction of a new fire hall, it has, at times, described the district’s efforts to obtain the land as aggressive.
“I cannot speak for them. I can only know what I know. What I know is that they were always involved in the process, at least during the last two years that I was part of it,” Van Minsel said in response.
The fire hall is still moving ahead on the planned site, even without the church property.
The building itself won’t be smaller but it will sit on a reduced lot.
“We’re dealing with a lot of fires in the last years,” Van Minsel said. “We need to have a location so we can reach our Peachland , the whole Peachland in time, and that location is prime.”
With land acquisition efforts now dropped, the attention will turn to getting the project completed once and for all.
The district hopes to have shovels in the ground late this year or early in the new year with the new fire hall up and running sometime in 2028.
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