Historic Copper Cliff fire hall shuttered in face of $600K repair bill

One of the few heritage buildings in Greater Sudbury has been shuttered because it's in such disrepair, it's unsafe for the public. 

This comes just two years after the century-old Copper Cliff fire hall was listed by the city as a historic structure.​

The city had an engineer check out the fire hall this summer and was surprised by what was found.

Mould and water damage means the entire foundation of the brick building from 1910 has to be replaced, at a price tag of $600,000.

The engineer suggested the building be cleared, so a Sudbury police storefront office was moved out to the Copper Cliff arena and community meetings held elsewhere.

Ron Henderson, the city's general manager of asset, transit and fleet services, says now city council faces a tough decision about the future of the mothballed building.

"Now whether council elects to keep it as a landmark, invest in it, demolish it, these are all decisions they'll have to consider," says Henderson.

Because even though the fire hall is one of the 10 heritage buildings in Sudbury and one of six owned by the city, it could still be knocked down.

"They require investment to keep up in a good state of repair, so those are the financial challenges that the city faces, along with all the other financial challenges that we face," Henderson says.

The city is also reviewing all of its 600 buildings to determine which ones its needs and how much work they'll need in the coming years, with a report is expected to come before city council in November.

It will no doubt deal with those six city-owned heritage buildings: the Copper Cliff fire hall, Capreol Railway Museum, Anderson Farm in Lively, the Flour Mill Silos and the David Street water treatment plant.

The four other designated buildings are the Bell Mansion, the Church of the Epiphany, the Ste. Anne's Rectory and the Belanger homestead in Azilda.

Back in 2012, the city's heritage panel had composed a list of 70 other structures that might be worthy of preservation, but that work has fallen by the wayside. 

The current chair of the heritage panel, Sudbury lawyer Nathan Boivin, says they are now focused on city-owned buildings, while taking suggestions from citizens.

On the Copper Cliff fire hall situation, he says just having the building on a list is a marked change from the 1960s and 70s, when much of Sudbury's built history was demolished with little public debate.

"Just having that notion of recognition, whatever the level of recognition, I think is a step in the right direction. Because from that recognition we can create dialogue," he says.