Mount Vernon presents $35.3 million plan to replace aging Fire Station 1

City of Mount Vernon officials on April 9 presented concept designs, site evaluation and a cost estimate of $35,300,000 for a proposed replacement of Fire Station 1 in downtown Mount Vernon.

The project team — Fire Chief Brian Harris, lead architect Rachel Hedloff of Mackenzie Architecture and Development Services Director Stacy Pachner — described a two-story building on the city-owned parking-lot site with four drive-through apparatus bays, public meeting space and a display room for a restored historic La France firefighting apparatus. The design is sized for 10 firefighters per shift and includes bunk rooms, offices, a conference room that could be used by other city departments and a fenced secure staff parking area.

Pachner told council that the project must meet local floodplain code and federal guidance. The site lies inside the base floodplain (Zone A) and, under the city’s implementation of FEMA rules (Mount Vernon Municipal Code Title 15), critical facilities must be elevated above the base flood elevation. The team said the design sets the protected first-floor elevation 5 feet above street grade, which includes the base flood elevation plus the required 3-foot additional elevation for critical facilities; walls will include concrete backup and waterproofing and doors/windows will be protected by temporary flood shields.

Rachel Hedloff described site constraints that add cost: floodproofing, special foundations because of nearby liquefaction risk, streetscape work converting a vacated Snoqualmie Street to a pedestrian plaza, and routing electricity underground across Second Street. The team estimated those site-specific items add about $2.8 million of the total estimate. The concept-level total of $35.3 million includes construction, consultant and owner costs, a 10% design contingency and an estimated 10% escalation premium to account for inflation and tariffs before construction.

The team presented cost alternatives. Removing the front historic-display room, patio and entry arcade would reduce the estimate by about $1,180,000. An alternate flood-protection approach — a temporary perimeter flood fence like the riverwalk barriers — was considered but ruled out because the team expects FEMA approval would be difficult and the fence option would add roughly $600,000 compared with the selected dry floodproofing of the building envelope.

Pachner said the planning department required an alternatives analysis showing there is no feasible non-floodplain site for a critical facility. The project team evaluated several candidate sites, including Lincoln School, the Old YMCA and the Elfco property, and concluded the proposed downtown civic-campus site best met program, service-area and timing criteria; Planning has determined the Title 15 alternative-site requirement was satisfied for permitting.

Finance Director Doug Velasquez provided bond feasibility information: for a $35 million bond issued in 2026, using the city’s median home value figure of $565,000, the team projected a 25-year bond would cost a resident roughly $216.62 annually (about $18.05 per month); a 20-year bond projection showed roughly $246.94 annually (about $20.58 per month). Pachner reminded council that a bond levy requires 60% approval and voter turnout sufficient to meet the local validation threshold (the city must reach 40% of the votes cast in the last general election to validate the measure). The presenters reviewed past turnout numbers and noted the city did not achieve the supermajority on a prior 2019 levy, which the council then addressed with a smaller councilmatic bond to renovate Stations 2 and 3.

Council members asked for additional operating-cost comparisons between the old station and the proposed facility; Chief Harris and the architect said they would pursue estimates of day-to-day operating expenses and expect new mechanical and electrical systems will be more efficient. No formal action or vote was taken on April 9; staff said next steps include continued design refinement, permitting and further public outreach ahead of any decision to place a bond measure before voters.