Lantzville council will be determining the future of Lantzville Heritage Church after a condition assessment stated it could take more than $1 million to repair.
Council received the report conducted by McElhanney Ltd. during a meeting on May 14.
"If this was a private building it would be much easier, there's just not the same onerous buildings and codes for a private building as there is for a public building," said Coun. Ian Savage during discussion. "That's what makes it so difficult, it's a really enormous expense just because of all the requirements."
The 2,000-square-foot church was constructed in 1938 and has been unoccupied since 2023 by order of the district due to safety concerns. Before then, it was used as a daycare.
In 2013, a structural report was prepared by Trilogy Structural Engineering Ltd, which noted deficiencies and recommended seismic upgrading of the building should be completed.
Since then, McElhanney Ltd. noted that the seismic design loads within the B.C. building code for Lantzville "have more than doubled." Aside from the seismic issues, the assessment found the stairway construction doesn't conform to current code safety requirements, and "it would be difficult to alter or rebuild the stairs in their current location." The washrooms are inadequate, elements of the building don't provide fire resistance rating, and "rot or mould may be encountered within the exterior walls of the building."
In order to make the building usable, the firm recommended a "deep retrofit and substantial renovation," with the inclusion of a two-storey addition containing new exit stars and an additional washroom. Renewal of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems should also be completed. The project cost is estimated at $1.07 million including the $165,000 contingency.
Before council makes a decision, Savage said he would like to hear public input.
"I've found with old buildings, especially this, where it's getting on 90 years old and wood construction, is that once you start putting money into it you have to keep putting money into it to justify the money you already put into it," he said. "It can be quite an endless thing."
Mayor Mark Swain suggested preparing a series of options and bringing it to the public, as in current condition it is "a simple tear down."
"That's kind of where we're at," the mayor said. "We haven't really spoken to the costing of it, but in the report itself the magnitude of the cost is quite high … that's a huge price tag. I'm sure we could be putting that money elsewhere in the community or doing something more strategic with it."
Swain added that the report's results were unfortunate news, as previous estimates were in the hundreds of thousands to bring the church back to usable condition.
He said the project would come back before council in the future, probably starting at the committee level.