Proposal to build new Avon Lake fire station expected at Council meeting Monday

AVON LAKE — A proposal for the construction of a new Avon Lake Fire Department station near the existing facility on Walker Road is planned to be presented at a City Council Collective Committee meeting Monday evening. Fire Chief Jeremy Betsa said representatives of Mull & Weithman Architects will appear at the meeting over Zoom to present plans. The architecture firm has done work with other local fire departments, he said, specifically recent construction and renovation work with the North Ridgeville Fire Department. The current expected cost of Avon Lake's proposal is about $31 million, a total that includes both hard and soft costs of constructing and furnishing the new station as well as remodeling the existing one, Betsa said. Under the proposal, the existing fire station would be remodeled for use by the Police Department and by the Municipal Court for storage. Both have headquarters at the Safety Center complex, west of the intersection of Walker and Avon Belden roads. A community room also would be located in the former fire department for various public functions. The Avon Lake Fire Department station, built in 1978, has remained the same size while the department has seen a 60 percent increase in personnel through the years, according to Betsa. Council does not vote on legislation at Collective Committee meetings such as Monday's, but members would have to vote at a future meeting on whether to put a levy before voters to fund the proposal. Betsa said the current plan is for the levy to appear on the May 2022 ballot. The original idea when working with architects was to add on the current fire station, Betsa said, but Mull & Weithman offered constructing an entirely new building an alternative to renovating and expanding. "An idea they threw out there was building a standalone fire station on the property that the city owns here, kind of northwest of where we are at, by that retention basin by Walker Road," he said. Although a new building was not originally thought of as an option, Betsa said it was determined that renovating and expanding would have its own costs beyond the obvious. "In order to renovate our space to add on, we would have had to completely vacate our area," he said. "That would include temporary housing, temporary offices, temporary apparatus bays, which would include pouring footers and foundations for those." In total, the temporary facilities were estimated to cost more than $1 million, assuming construction timing remained on track. At the time, Betsa said building a new freestanding building was estimated to be cheaper overall than adding on. With a new facility, Betsa said the Fire Department could also comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards and build shower and dormitory facilities to accommodate the potential of a female firefighter joining the department. The Collective Committee meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday in City Hall's Council Chambers, 150 Avon Belden Road. Council meetings are also broadcast live on the city website and the Avon Lake cable access channels. Masks are required inside City Hall. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.