Flamborough Today: Officials break ground on $55M Fire and Police station in Waterdown

This article was published by Flamborough Today on July 31, 2025.

By: Cara Nickerson

The project is the largest investment made by the city in Flamborough since the 2001 amalgamation

Work is officially underway on the Hamilton Police and Fire combined station at 20 Parkside Drive in Waterdown. 

The station, which will provide Waterdown and surrounding Flamborough towns with both police and fire services, is expected to open in spring 2027, and will include a new 9-1-1 dispatch centre and collision reporting centre.  

Chief Frank Bergen of the Hamilton Police Service and Chief Dave Cunliffe of Hamilton Fire were joined by Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath, Ward 15 Coun. Ted McMeekin and former Flamborough councillor Judi Partridge, to turn the sod on the new station. 

Cunliffe said the volunteer fire station up the road at 256 Parkside Drive will also see some changes, as the new station is built. 

"The existing Parkside station is going to be remodeled and we're going to be adding an additional pumper truck in there for the volunteers and we're increasing the number of volunteers to a complement of 40," he said. 

At the groundbreaking, Horwath noted that Waterdown is the city's fastest growing community.

"There has been concern in these communities for a long time about the response times. Frankly, when an emergency happens, you want to know that you are going to have a response from either police or fire or both as quickly as possible. This fulfills that need," she said, adding that as the community grows, the emergency infrastructure will become more vital. 

Cunliffe said Hamilton Fire is expanding service in the area to meet that growth. 

"There's a significant development planned for the Highway 6 corridor," he said, including high-rises, single family home developments and commercial buildings. "We're thinking not just about what we have today, it's about what's coming." 

When the combined fire and police station opens, it will include two full-time "fire apparatus," he said, which means a fire engine and a fire ladder, which will serve the community 24/7, every day of the year. There will be 12 firefighters staffed at the station, along with 40 police officers. 

Those 40 officers, Bergen told FlamboroughToday, will mean about eight officers on shift at a time in the Waterdown area. 

A rendering of the new combined Hamilton Fire and Police station at 20 Parkside Drive. City of Hamilton

"What we've heard and what we see in this area is much-needed emergency response availability, and this is where this is where that will come out of," Bergen said, adding the community will see a greatly heightened police presence in the area. 

Waterdown residents often share their concerns about the high rates of car thefts in the area. 

Bergen said car thefts in the city are down, through police partnerships, initiatives and investigations into stolen car operations. He said the police station will mean a faster response time for 9-1-1 calls in the area. 

"It doesn't necessarily mean that bricks and mortar stops car thefts," he said. 

Currently, when Waterdown residents call for police service, officers are dispatched from the Division 3 station on Rymal Road on Hamilton Mountain, which is about 20 minutes away from the village - without traffic. 

McMeekin, who has pushed for the station since he was elected, said the groundbreaking was the culmination of years of work from the city and emergency services. He said the estimated $55-million price tag is the largest financial investment the city has made in Flamborough since amalgamation. 

"This will undoubtedly impact positively the response rates that people want to see improved," he said.