Vernon’s historic army drill hall could be turned into housing.
The idea, from Tuesday’s April 16 federal budget, is to use federally owned sites across the country to help ease the housing crunch.
The federal government is Canada’s largest landowner and has listed six Canada Post properties and has 14 national defence surplus lands.
The Brigadier Murphy Armoury in Vernon is one of them.
The armoury, built in 1913, is “a two-storey drill hall with simple horizontal massing and modest but strong detailing,” the budget document reads.
An article in the Vernon Morning Star in 2016 said its future was uncertain following a review by the Department of National Defence.
“The Department of National Defence is currently examining the Canadian Armed Forces’ future requirements for the Murphy Armoury,” Evan Koronewski, a senior communications advisor with the department, told The Morning Star at the time.
Thousands of men trained in Vernon before heading overseas in both world wars. The armoury is the traditional home of the legendary B.C. Dragoons and thousands of young cadets have spent time there.
At the time it was built, the armoury was considered an essential component of the community, to the point that the city donated the land.
The armoury is listed in the Vernon heritage registry adopted by city council in 2000.
The armoury opened in September 1913 on 29th Street on four acres donated by the city at a cost of $18,000.
“The property is not designated by bylaw as a municipal heritage site as per provincial legislation and therefore, the property is not a protected heritage site under that same legislation,” said Dale Rintoul, the city’s planning manager at the time.
The armoury is a recognized federal heritage building, according to the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
The budget says the government will “partner with the housing sector to build homes on every possible site across the federal portfolio.”
The plan is to lease the lands and retain ownership whenever possible, the budget says.
Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Wednesday the government will release a map of federal properties that may be appropriate for housing in the coming months. Some sites will be easier to convert than others, he said.
“If we’re dealing with a piece of land that is not a simple conversion or an office building that could be rapidly converted into housing … when you’re dealing with a large-scale apartment building, it can take three years to actually put a building up.”
- with files from Canadian Press
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