Could the current RCMP detachment become the next Kamloops City Hall?

KAMLOOPS — A City of Kamloops council committee has been told about the advantages of a strategy that would build new homes for the city’s police force and its bureaucracy.

Council’s Build Kamloops committee is contemplating what to do about the city’s outdated, overcrowded downtown RCMP detachment. The current complement of Mounties and support staff has the building filled to twice its intended capacity.

The city could build an expansion at the current site, but Capital Projects Manager Matt Kachel says considering how the police force grows with the city, the property at 560 Battle Street can only handle the detachment for another 15 years.

As an alternative, Kachel told the committee the city could use the property as a new home for City Hall. The new facility would combine staff and services offered at the current City Hall (7 Victoria Street West) and Development and Engineering Services (DES, 107 Seymour Street) under one roof.

“We would kind of chase the police out,” said Kachel. “In seven years, as presented in this plan, that would become a new civic administration building and then we would need to start thinking about a full new detachment for the police.”

“We’re designing a city hall that the RCMP use for seven years and then switching out,” he continued. “The new RCMP (detachment) that we would need to build would be just for them and it would be a longer-term, 20-, 30-, 50-year plan.”

Kachel says the current City Hall and DES buildings are at capacity and major upgrades will be required in the near future.

“Things are aging out. They need to be replaced. Nothing’s falling apart, so to speak, but there are some big investments that are coming up and some decisions that could be made about whether or not it’s worth it to start to add onto [City Hall].”

The current RCMP detachment was built in 1990. City staff say the current and projected detachment size requires another 40,000 square feet to operate.

An expanded and renovated RCMP detachment that could accommodate the police force for another 15 years. (Image Credit: City of Kamloops)

Build Kamloops committee chair Mike O’Reilly expressed his concern that continuing on with such a packed RCMP detachment is untenable.

“I worry that we’re not meeting our contractual obligations with the RCMP as required,” said O’Reilly. “We’re over double capacity and that’s not slowing down. There’s been a very focused movement by this council to hire more RCMP officers and, for the first time in a long time, we’re getting those.”

A project to accommodate the RCMP force on the Battle Street property for another 15 years is projected to cost about $96 million. Renovating the property to become a new home for city staff and administration is estimated to carry at $77 million price tag, though that does not include creating a new, long-term home for the RCMP.

“We have some time to look at this, but it’s getting to the point where (we ask), ‘Do we invest in this building (City Hall) or do we move on and look at something else?’” said Kachel. “Looking at the RCMP project at Battle Street and then this project gave us an ability to leverage these projects together.”