Fire station cost going up

The cost of a new downtown fire station is rising, after workers excavating the site uncovered contaminated soil and an abandoned underground storage tank that are being removed.

A new $2.5 million Fire Station No. 4 is being erected inside the circular traffic median at the intersection of First Avenue and Maple Street, at the west end of downtown.

Fire Chief Bobby Williams said the environmental cleanup of the soil and tank will add at least $25,000 to the cost of the project and maybe as much as $50,000, or 1 to 2 percent of the station’s construction budget.

“That set us back,” the chief said.

Even so, the contractor on the project, TW Clark Construction LLC, is expected to complete work by the end of the year, so fire crews can move from their present location at 8 S. Adams St. by early next year, Williams said.

The city plans to sell the old concrete-block station and use the proceeds to help finance construction of the new station. Several prospective buyers have inquired about purchasing the old station, officials said.

City Council members want to make sure the purchaser uses the property to enhance the downtown environment, said Councilman Brad Stark.

As a result, the council has asked the city administration to put the old fire station property up for bid through a process known as a request for proposals. Under it, the council can consider plans for the property as well as price.

Stark said the property sale should follow the intent of the city’s downtown comprehensive plan, which seeks to increase housing and mixed uses in the core. The council wants the sale to “generate buzz downtown and generate return on investment as far as the tax base.”

But, Stark said, the council doesn’t want to sacrifice any of the old station’s value. “The first priority is to make sure the Fire Department and Chief Williams are made whole” on the deal, he said.

Williams said an appraisal shows the value of the South Adams Street property to be $475,000.

A request for proposals is currently in draft form and will be released to prospective purchasers in the near future, said Dave Mandyke, who oversees real estate transactions for the city.

The new station is being built to house as many as four fire rigs. Station No. 4 currently holds three trucks, including Engine No. 4 and Ladder No. 4. Each of those two primary rigs has four firefighters. Engine 4 also has paramedic capability.

In addition, Station No. 4 firefighters are cross-trained in technical rescue. The station has a rig equipped for recovering victims trapped at high angles or in confined spaces. The technical rescue unit was dispatched to the city’s sewer treatment plant in May and recovered the body of worker Mike Cmos Jr. on May 12 from inside a sludge “digester” that had been damaged two days earlier in a dramatic failure of the tank.

The new station will have room for an additional firetruck and larger sleeping quarters to accommodate growth, Williams said.

Last year, Engine No. 3 fire crews responded to 2,160 calls for service, including fires and medical emergencies. The ladder company had 1,456 calls in the same period with fewer medical responses.

The project is being financed from a $21.4 million bond issue approved by voters in 1999. That measure authorized a wide range of Fire Department improvements from new trucks and equipment to a combined police-fire dispatch center and a training facility east of Spokane Community College. Fire Station No. 18 on the North Side is also being relocated with construction of a new station on Lincoln Road just east of Division. It, too, is being financed with bond money.

At the downtown construction site, Williams said the original source of the abandoned fuel tank and soil contamination is unknown. The property held buildings years ago, but in more recent years has been a large grassy median in the Maple Street Bridge route.

Another unexpected cost of the new station involves the construction of a retaining wall on the east side of the site. A storm sewer line beneath the designed wall is an old clay-type pipe that needs to be replaced with modern polyvinyl to withstand the weight of the wall and earth against it, Williams said. The added cost of replacing the pipe had not yet been determined, Williams said.

The station was designed by Denny Christenson & Associates of Spokane. The firm worked with neighborhood groups to make the design blend into the surroundings. Architectural features will mirror period designs in Browne’s Addition to the west, Williams said.