The Capital Region Emergency Service Telecommunications organization, commonly known as CREST, is planning to build a $16 million post-disaster warehouse and monitoring facility near Langford’s Costco.

 

 

CREST has secured a one-acre land parcel in the new City Gate community off McCallum Road northwest of the Trans Canada Highway’s Millstream Road interchange, and is seeking support from its stakeholders to build a complex it says will “preserve and safeguard critical emergency communications infrastructure and resources for first responders in the region,” according to a briefing presented to south Island municipal councils.

 

“Currently, CREST operations, infrastructure and master site are located in separate locations, and only the master site is in a post-seismic structure. The primary focus of the new building is to mitigate the risk to critical spare equipment, specialized tools, and safety of key technical personnel,” a statement from CREST reads.

 

Eyed for replacement is a West Shore Parkway warehouse housing the brunt of $4.75 million of radio infrastructure redundancy technology and workers critical to maintaining network operations in the event of a natural disaster. As per CREST’s informational package, the planned custom-built City Gate project will ensure those tools and specialized labour are protected from earthquakes or other structure-damaging events.

 

A council brief says funding will be generated through a long-term $15 million loan via the Municipal Finance Authority, with debt covered within CREST’s 2.9% annual planned budget increases.

 

Pending approval for the project at the upcoming annual general meeting for shareholders in May, which requires backing from two-thirds of CRESTS 20 shareholders represented by cross-regional governments and agencies, construction would get underway in early 2023 with completion approximately 18 months thereafter.

 

Comprised of 50 stakeholders that include municipalities throughout the Capital Region, BC Transit, BC Ambulance Service, policing agencies, fire departments, First Nations, and many others, CREST handles over 700 communications per hour, on average.

 

In 2020, CREST completed an upgrade from analogue signals to ‘P25’ digital signals at a cost of $24.5 million. Outdated equipment was provided to agencies on central and northern Vancouver Island still using analogue communications.

 

CREST is funded through user fees paid by the agencies using the system. Fees are based on the geographic size of the area they serve, its population, the number of radios required, and radio traffic. In addition, the Capital Regional District contracts with CREST to provide an emergency communications system for the region. C

 

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