North Ridgeville Planning Commission OKs improvements for Lorain Road fire station

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Renovations and additions to North Ridgeville's Fire Station No. 2 were approved by the city's Planning Commission on Tuesday in a virtual Zoom meeting. The existing station, built at 34523 Lorain Road in the 1970s, is about 5,400 square feet. Two additions are proposed, one to the east along the apparatus bays and one to the south of the station's administrative area for physical fitness equipment, said Bradley Mull, vice president of Mull & Weithman Architects Inc. of Columbus. Both additions would allow for storage of equipment and gear that currently has to be placed along the bays. The dormitory will be renovated and three old HVAC systems will be replaced with energy-efficient systems, Mull added. In February, City Council approved the issuance and sale of $1.4 million in bond anticipation notes for the project, which includes renovating, expanding and equipping the station. The money is accounted for in North Ridgeville's 2020 budget. At that time, Fire Chief John Reese said the department has been making smaller renovations for the past three years, including work on the roof, windows, doors, front sign and parking lot. Planning Commission Chairman James Smolik said he wanted to make sure the city had done its due diligence in exploring designs that would not extend so close to the edge of its property. At the southeast corner, one of the additions would sit less than 2 feet from the property line, Mull said. However, plans from the fire station's original 1973 construction showed intentions to eventually expand in that direction. The Fire Department is looking to be good neighbors, Reese said, but alternative layouts would have cost firefighters access to an apparatus bay. "We're trying to meet the modern building code and standard compared to 1973," Reese said. "There has never been anything done to that building, basically, other than general maintenance since 1973, and that fire station is really important in the future of North Ridgeville, because it is in a great location and we want to get as much life out of it as we can." No residents have expressed concerns as far as he is aware, Reese said. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.