The OPP’s North Bay detachment is destined for a new home, but perhaps not anytime soon.
Infrastructure Ontario anticipates the move will happen within the next two to eight years. The intent is to provide a larger space than what’s available at the current detachment at 867 Gormanville Road, and updated amenities.
Could it remain in North Bay? Maybe and maybe not!
BayToday reached out to Mayor Peter Chirico to see if the city had plans to try and keep the detachment in North Bay. “Mayor Chirico would like to look into this further,” explained North Bay’s Communication Officer, Gord Young, “and doesn’t have a comment at this time.”
The Detachment Commander of the North Bay OPP detachment, Inspector Bill McMullen, explained, “We are not in a position to speak to the future plans for a new North Bay Detachment at this time.”
He clarified that “All OPP facility modernization projects are led by the Ontario Government,” and Infrastructure Ontario will work with the OPP “to determine real estate and OPP operational requirements and explore options that best meet our policing requirements.”
See: New Commander for the North Bay OPP Detachment
As for the proposed building, the plan is to build a 15,000-square-foot detachment on approximately four to six acres of land. Infrastructure Ontario estimates the total project costs will be around $12.7 million.
Infrastructure Ontario has reached out to neighbouring municipalities – Callander and East Ferris – to gauge interest in undertaking the project and working with Infrastructure Ontario to bring the development to life.
Those two communities are patrolled by the OPP while North Bay has its own municipal force.
“I know the financial aspect of it looks like it may be out of reach for us,” Callander’s mayor Robb Noon said. “But I think there is an opportunity here,” perhaps with a donation of land, “or working with our neighbours, so I think we should pursue our options.”
There are three options offered by Infrastructure Ontario. A municipality could offer the land to the province for a building to be constructed through Crown Construction. Or, a municipality could designate land, and build the detachment, and the province would be responsible for leasehold improvement. The OPP would lease back the building for an agreed-upon term and rental rate.
Finally, the municipality could construct a full detachment, and the OPP would lease it at an agreed-upon term and rate. This is the ‘turnkey building’ option. Suppose a municipality wants to make a formal proposal. In that case, the application must be submitted to Infrastructure Ontario for review, and include information on the land, timelines for the build, a breakdown of responsibility for services, as well as projected annual operation costs.
If built in Callander, the projected tax revenues would fall within the $35 to $45 thousand range. However, “I’m not looking at what we may get from taxes,” said Mayor Robb Noon, “I’m looking at the very large picture of the next 20 years of impact to our municipality.”
The next step for Callander is to meet with East Ferris to see what they think about the proposed plan. There are no deadlines imposed at this time by Infrastructure Ontario, so there is plenty of time to discuss options.
The fate of the detachment may depend upon how the municipalities respond.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
