The Jefferson City Public Safety Committee voted Thursday to endorse design plans for the new Fire Station No. 2, sending it to the city's Finance Committee.
The city purchased 15 acres at 3025 Robinson Road, the new site for Fire Station No. 2, Architects Alliance principal architect Cary Gampher and project manager Curtis Goben said. The current 4,700-square-foot Fire Station No. 2 is located at 2400 E. McCarty St.
If Architects Alliance gets approval from the Finance Committee and the Jefferson City Council, it will move forward with the plans, with bids possibly going out in the spring.
The 10,500-square-foot station would feature 2 1/2 apparatus bays, with the option to construct a 1,400-square-foot third full bay in the future. There would be a mezzanine over the half bay, which Goben and Gampher said could be used for training.
The station would have a training room, dayroom, outdoor area, gear storage room, kitchen, bunkrooms and offices. There would also be a classroom inside the fire station where the public could hold meetings, according to the design plans.
"This is a product of considerable amount of time put forward by engineering firms, Architects Alliance (and) the fire department staff through several months of meetings and rehashing over this, that and the other to come up with what's going to satisfy our needs now and in the future, and what's going to be a good representation of how to serve Jefferson City," Jefferson City Assistant Fire Chief Matt Bowden said. He was filling in for Fire Chief Matt Schofield, who was deployed by FEMA to help with urban search and rescue missions in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
The proposed cost ranges from about $3.5 million-$3.8 million without the additional apparatus bay.
The schematic design plans also show a possible Jefferson City Police Department substation, but Goben and Gampher said this is optional. If the city decides to add the substation, the total project cost would range from $3.6 million-$3.8 million.
Adding a third apparatus bay would cost slightly more than $233,000.
The Jefferson City Fire Department has more than $1 million budgeted from the city's sales tax G and the fire department's general operating budget. Bowden said the fire department might sell the current Fire Station No. 2 to help offset expenses.
The new station would have an enclosed stormwater system, according to the schematic design plan, that would direct water to the east. The design plan notes the city plans to use the remaining property east of the building as a fill site.
Gampher and Goben said they are constructing the building so its lifespan is 50-100 years but still remains within budget. They are still deciding on the aesthetics of the building, discussing what is best for the fire department and Jefferson City community.
"A fire station, like any public safety, police or other, that's critical infrastructure in a time of a disaster - those buildings need to stand the test of time and of whatever may impact them," Bowden said. "That's why it's important to have that hardened aspect, both from the shell of the building standpoint and the interior portion."
Since still in the schematic phase of the process, the design could change. Jerry Blomberg, Jefferson City Fire Department division chief of training, said the final design depends on the City Council's wishes.
Last December, the council approved a contract with Architects Alliance, suggesting Fire Station No. 2, which was built in 1970, be renovated, rebuilt or relocated. Gampher said it would be more cost-effective to build a new fire station.
A 2011 facility review noted Fire Station No. 2 had inadequate equipment, gear storage and office space, among other things.
Also on Thursday, David Hedrick, director of the fire and rescue training institute at the University of Missouri, announced fire school training - held in Jefferson City - will be moved back to the university.
"It's an economic issue with the institution," he said. "It has nothing to do with the Jefferson City Fire Department or this town. The city has stepped up for the fire school, but we just have to take essential steps to operate within our institute because of economic problems."
The fire department and University of Missouri partnered on the fire school, and Hedrick said he would still like to continue this partnership.