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Mayor seeks design contract to locate and plan new Northside fire station
Summary
Mayor Jared Kram presented a three‑phase design agreement with CPL to study site selection, concept design and grant readiness for a proposed new Northside fire station; staff proposed a cap on design expenditures and emphasized the multi‑year nature of the project.
Mayor Jared Kram on Monday asked the council to authorize an agreement with CPL to perform predevelopment, site evaluation and conceptual design services for a possible new Northside fire station.
Kram said the existing Northside station on State Street has structural issues that would make an extended, costly renovation less practical than building a new facility. He described CPL’s scope as three phases: predevelopment and response‑analysis work (including mapping and an ISO response review), site evaluation and environmental screening, and a conceptual design sufficient to support grant seeking and budget estimates.
“it's important to me that the North Side keeps a fire station, that we invest in 1 that can serve, that neighborhood for decades and decades to come,” Mayor Kram said. He asked councilors to allow a measured, multi‑year approach that identifies appropriate locations and funding sources before final design and construction.
Council members generally supported a staged approach but urged caution about committing to final design before the site‑selection and response‑analysis work is complete. The mayor said he set a hard cap of roughly $100,000 for the consultant scope to remain conservative and avoid paying for full final design before adequate site and funding information is available. Staff described an overall 2½–3‑year timeline that includes identifying federal or state grants to cover construction costs after completing conceptual design.
CPL’s planned predevelopment work would use emergency‑response heat mapping and examine 4‑minute response standards and the city’s ISO rating. Staff noted the city and the BLDC own parcels on the North Side that could be considered for a station site, but said they prefer a data‑driven selection and want the consultant to identify the best location and cost estimate for grant applications.
Council did not take a final vote to authorize construction; the request during the work session was to approve the consultant scope and funding for design phases leading to grant submittals and a later construction phase.
