Consultant recommends new location for fire station
Safety committee hears presentation Jan. 16
Eric Chambers discusses the fire station feasibility study. Photo by EMILY CANNING-DEAN
WADSWORTH – A consultant hired to conduct a feasibility study on the city’s Fire Station No. 1 indicate a new fire station in a different location might be what the city needs.
Representatives from Brandstetter Carroll Inc., the consultant hired by the city, gave a presentation on their findings before the public safety committee Jan. 16.
Mike Carroll said the group evaluated the existing Fire Station No. 1, located on Lyman Street just north of Broad Street, to see if it is able to meet the community’s needs and also looked at alternative sites to see if there was a more suitable location for a new fire station.
“We got as many people involved as possible talking to members of the fire department, sending out questionnaires to the public and hosting two stakeholder meetings,” Carroll said, adding the public can view the complete report on the city’s website. “We met with the fire department to better understand what they do and how they do it to help prepare an assessment to determine what the needs are.”
Eric Chambers, another representative from Brandstetter Carroll, said the current fire station has served the community for more than 50 years and has seen multiple renovations.
“Looking at the facility, it wasn’t designed to be a full-time fire station,” he said. “It was designed to be a smaller station with smaller equipment. The firefighters do an excellent job with what they have, but the needs have changed over time.”
Chambers said the station’s HVAC and electrical systems are past their useful life and also said the station can make it difficult to maneuver for certain tasks because certain functions are not adjacent to proper locations within the building. He also pointed out the station has no central meeting area or training area.
“Also one of the bigger issues is the health and safety of the firefighters,” he said. “There are no room separations between what we call the ‘dirty’ areas where the trucks and equipment are located and the ‘clean’ areas which are the living areas. You want a clean separation between the two to minimize carcinogens. That is a huge issue right now for fire stations all across the country.”
Brandstetter Carroll representative Nancy Nozik said during the evaluation of the current station the team was also looking at alternative locations in case it was determined the current station and location are not meeting the city’s needs.
“It was clear that there is no current city-owned property screaming ‘this is the place for a new fire station,’” she said. “We sat around the table with a big map and identified 26 potential sites.”
Nozik said the team eventually narrowed the list down to 12 potential sites trying to stay close to the city’s central business district. They worked to determine the size of each property, who owns the property, the current value of the property, were there buildings that would need to be demolished and would there be any red flags as far as environmental concerns.
To make sure all of the needs are met within the station, the building would need to be approximately 27,000 square feet, Nozik said. The current site would not accommodate a building of that size and Nozik said acquiring adjoining parcels to make the site bigger looked to be very challenging. Nozik also said the estimated cost of the entire project, including constructing a facility, acquiring land, allowing for new furniture and equipment and utility tap fees could total around $7 million.
Nozik said the team has identified two locations as possible sites for a new fire station. The first is the former Jeff’s Auto Cars located at Broad and Auble streets and the second is the former Sash and Door property located on West Walnut Street near South Main Street.
Councilor Bruce Darlington asked if the city would need to look at soil samples on either of the sites.
“That is one of the next steps of the process,” Carroll said. “It could make a big difference and we would recommend the city invest a little bit of money in this to possibly save themselves a lot of money down the road.”
Councilor Bob Thurber recalled the cost of Fire Station No. 2 was roughly $1.2 million when it was constructed 15 years ago.
“The estimated cost for this station seems exponential compared to that one,” he said.
Nozik said the proposed Fire Station No. 1 would be more than twice the size of Fire Station No. 2 and also said construction costs have increased in the last 15 years.
“Also if this was a satellite station it could probably be built cheaper, but as the primary station that is more difficult,” she said.
Carroll said the next steps for the city would be to look at the sites and determine if there are any soil issues before trying to purchase any land. He said the city will also want to do an assessment to see what the cost to operate the proposed fire station would be and also to identify funding sources.
Representatives from Brandstetter Carroll Inc., the consultant hired by the city, gave a presentation on their findings before the public safety committee Jan. 16.
Mike Carroll said the group evaluated the existing Fire Station No. 1, located on Lyman Street just north of Broad Street, to see if it is able to meet the community’s needs and also looked at alternative sites to see if there was a more suitable location for a new fire station.
“We got as many people involved as possible talking to members of the fire department, sending out questionnaires to the public and hosting two stakeholder meetings,” Carroll said, adding the public can view the complete report on the city’s website. “We met with the fire department to better understand what they do and how they do it to help prepare an assessment to determine what the needs are.”
Eric Chambers, another representative from Brandstetter Carroll, said the current fire station has served the community for more than 50 years and has seen multiple renovations.
“Looking at the facility, it wasn’t designed to be a full-time fire station,” he said. “It was designed to be a smaller station with smaller equipment. The firefighters do an excellent job with what they have, but the needs have changed over time.”
Chambers said the station’s HVAC and electrical systems are past their useful life and also said the station can make it difficult to maneuver for certain tasks because certain functions are not adjacent to proper locations within the building. He also pointed out the station has no central meeting area or training area.
“Also one of the bigger issues is the health and safety of the firefighters,” he said. “There are no room separations between what we call the ‘dirty’ areas where the trucks and equipment are located and the ‘clean’ areas which are the living areas. You want a clean separation between the two to minimize carcinogens. That is a huge issue right now for fire stations all across the country.”
Brandstetter Carroll representative Nancy Nozik said during the evaluation of the current station the team was also looking at alternative locations in case it was determined the current station and location are not meeting the city’s needs.
“It was clear that there is no current city-owned property screaming ‘this is the place for a new fire station,’” she said. “We sat around the table with a big map and identified 26 potential sites.”
Nozik said the team eventually narrowed the list down to 12 potential sites trying to stay close to the city’s central business district. They worked to determine the size of each property, who owns the property, the current value of the property, were there buildings that would need to be demolished and would there be any red flags as far as environmental concerns.
To make sure all of the needs are met within the station, the building would need to be approximately 27,000 square feet, Nozik said. The current site would not accommodate a building of that size and Nozik said acquiring adjoining parcels to make the site bigger looked to be very challenging. Nozik also said the estimated cost of the entire project, including constructing a facility, acquiring land, allowing for new furniture and equipment and utility tap fees could total around $7 million.
Nozik said the team has identified two locations as possible sites for a new fire station. The first is the former Jeff’s Auto Cars located at Broad and Auble streets and the second is the former Sash and Door property located on West Walnut Street near South Main Street.
Councilor Bruce Darlington asked if the city would need to look at soil samples on either of the sites.
“That is one of the next steps of the process,” Carroll said. “It could make a big difference and we would recommend the city invest a little bit of money in this to possibly save themselves a lot of money down the road.”
Councilor Bob Thurber recalled the cost of Fire Station No. 2 was roughly $1.2 million when it was constructed 15 years ago.
“The estimated cost for this station seems exponential compared to that one,” he said.
Nozik said the proposed Fire Station No. 1 would be more than twice the size of Fire Station No. 2 and also said construction costs have increased in the last 15 years.
“Also if this was a satellite station it could probably be built cheaper, but as the primary station that is more difficult,” she said.
Carroll said the next steps for the city would be to look at the sites and determine if there are any soil issues before trying to purchase any land. He said the city will also want to do an assessment to see what the cost to operate the proposed fire station would be and also to identify funding sources.