Talks have yet to begin on cost-sharing for the RCMP's new billion-dollar B.C. headquarters in Surrey, according to a Union of B.C. Municipalities memo obtained by Business in Vancouver.
"The province has recently been provided with the federal contact for the negotiations. Municipalities will be represented at the negotiations," said a June 18 memo by Peter Fassbender and Clayton Pecknold, the co-chairs of the Local Government Contract Management Committee.
"It is the province's position that all items related to Green Timbers are up for negotiation, including what portion of the proceeds of the sale of the federally owned current headquarters at Heather Street will offset the costs of the new building."
The facilities talks are separate from the 20-year Provincial Police Services Agreement. The deadline for holdout municipalities, like Richmond and the District of North Vancouver, to sign the deal is June 30.
Construction began two years ago on the 14.8-hectare Green Timbers site where the 76,162-square-metre RCMP complex will hold 2,700 personnel and be surrounded with parking for 1,800 vehicles.
There is no guarantee, however, that proceeds of the to-be-vacated Vancouver property at 37th and Heather will be available to defray the Green Timbers costs. A November 2010 federal workshop discussed the strategic sale of surplus properties in Vancouver, but conceded there were overlapping land claims by the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish first nations for the existing E Division headquarters in Vancouver.
Langley City mayor Fassbender and director of provincial policing services Pecknold said in the memo that a five-year RCMP forecast in May estimated a $1,200-per-member annual administration cost for Green Timbers.
"To be clear, this amount has not been negotiated with the province," said the memo.
It added that municipalities are expected to share 9% of the total space for divisional administration staff. Lower Mainland municipalities will share another 7% to house integrated teams.
French construction giant Bouygues Batiment International and Bird Construction are on-track to complete the Green Timbers project by December. Bouygues' ETDE Canadian facility management arm will take over.
InfraRed Capital Partners, a former HSBC unit, is the financier for the Green Timbers Accommodation Partners.
Meanwhile, Surrey city council refused June 25 to schedule a public hearing for the RCMP's controversial bid to obtain a liquor licence for almost 1,200 at Green Timbers.
