Fire stations set for changes
A facility in Fair Oaks will be overhauled; one in Orangevale will be
moved.
By Lakiesha McGhee -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, December 9, 2004
Plans to
overhaul Fire Station 32 in Fair Oaks have been approved by the Sacramento
County Project Planning Commission, and construction of the new, larger
station will begin by spring, according to the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire
District.
The district also has applied to relocate
Orangevale's Station 29 from 6314 Hickory Ave. to Greenback Lane near
Kenneth Avenue, where the new building can be 10 times larger.
 District
officials held a community forum last week at the Orangevale station to
present plans for both stations and answer residents' questions. About 20
people attended the meeting, project manager Charles "Chuck" Horel said.
"There seemed to be a strong indication of
support from residents," Horel said in an interview about the district's
plans to relocate the Orangevale station to a 13,000-square-foot facility.
Station No. 29 is currently a 1,300-square-foot
building with three bedrooms and a single back-in garage. District officials
maintain the station is undersized. The station's garage can accommodate
only one 1978 Seagrave model pumper, which is difficult to maintain, Horel
said. He added the district does not have a similar-size emergency response
vehicle that can be parked at the station, originally designed as a
single-family home.
In addition, Station No. 29 does not meet the
seismic safety standards of current building codes, nor does it provide the
needed privacy for a mixed-gender work force, Horel said.
"(The building) was never intended to be a fire
station, but it has served in that capacity for 30 years," Horel said.
Although residents at the meeting supported the
district's plans to address the fire stations' inadequacies, some expressed
concerns related to the proposed new station site on Greenback Lane. Horel
said residents asked about potential noise and the visual impact of the
proposed station to its surrounding neighborhood. Some also wanted to know
about grading and drainage plans and efforts to maintain oak trees on the
2-acre property, which contains two houses. However, only one resident
withheld support for the project because of such issues, Horel said.
The district has proposed a masonry sound wall,
landscaping and other measures to help reduce noise from the station.
Proposed plans also include road improvements on Greenback Lane, such as
construction of a sidewalk and 350 feet of frontage road to meet Sacramento
County requirements. Horel said the district wants to minimize the number of
trees removed from the site and will adhere to county mitigations for trees
that need to be cut down.
Both Stations 29 and 32 are considered
inadequate by district standards and fail to meet current building codes,
officials said. Plans to demolish the structures and replace them with new
facilities are part of the district's $40 million, 3 1/2-year construction
program to replace eight outdated stations in the county.
Fair Oaks and Arden Park will be the first
communities to have an existing station replaced, Horel said.
In a 3-1 vote Nov. 22, the Sacramento County
Project Planning Commission approved plans to replace Fire Station 32 in
Fair Oaks - at Hazel Avenue and Roediger Lane.
Commissioner Joe Debbs voted against the
project. Commissioner Gary Cortopassi was absent.
Plans call for replacing Station 32's
3,900-square-foot building with a nearly 13,000-square-foot facility. The
new facility will feature dormitories, restrooms, a kitchen, a
dining-dayroom combination, offices, a laundry room, an exercise room, a
radio room and a public meeting room. Additional construction will include
an above-ground fueling facility, a 60-foot-tall communications tower and a
building to house a standby generator.
The Fair Oaks Community Planning Advisory
Council in May unanimously approved the project with an 80-foot
communications tower, despite concerns about the structure being intrusive
to surrounding residences. The council recommended the district work with
residents to provide a less-intrusive tower that can still meet the
district's needs.
Capt. Pat Ellis, the district's spokesman, said
the new height reflects a compromise.
"We are very concerned about being good
neighbors," Ellis said, adding that the district also will build the tower
60 feet from the station so that it will blend in with landscaping.
The new location and height will be sufficient
for proper radio communication and to support mobile-data terminals that are
used to send messages to police and fire vehicles, Ellis said.
The district plans to demolish barracks on the
site by the end of January, Horel said. The Fair Oaks station will remain
open until its new facilities are complete in 2006.
The district plans to file an application in
January for the proposed Orangevale station. The Orangevale Community
Planning Advisory Council is expected to hear the project by summer 2005,
Horel said.
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