West Bend officials unveil $24.7 million plan to replace Fire Station 1 at Johnson Bus Site

City of West Bend officials and consultants presented plans on June 16 to replace Fire Station 1 with a roughly $24.7 million, single-story facility on the Johnson Bus Site and said they will bring the project back to the common council for a vote at the July 7 meeting.

The new station is designed to improve response times to underserviced west and northwest neighborhoods, add drive-through apparatus bays, on-site tactical training, and modern health-and-wellness and decontamination spaces. Funding would come primarily from two general-obligation financings: an initial issue of about $20.15 million this fall and an estimated $4.8 million follow-up financing in spring–summer 2026; the city estimates an average homeowner tax impact of about $78 per year over a 21-year period for the two issues.

The plan matters because the existing Station 1 is aging and constrained, officials said: it is two stories, has an HVAC system near the end of its useful life, undersized apparatus doors and limited sleeping and training space. Construction of a new, one-story station and a nearby training tower aims to preserve the city’s emergency-response standards and reduce turnout times.

“After all that time, we’ve finally come to the point where we have what we believe is a good vision for a fire station that will help serve the city of West Bend for the next 70 years,” Fire Chief Noren said during the presentation. Trevor Frank, lead architect with SEH, said the design has reached 30% drawings and is tracking to a building area of roughly 44,700 square feet.

Design features shown at the meeting include hot/warm/cold contamination zones for gear and personnel, gender-neutral single-use facilities, drive-through apparatus bays to reduce backing incidents, a separate training tower on-site and dedicated spaces for mental-health and wellness. Corey Hentchel of construction manager C.D. Smith said the $24.7 million figure includes construction-phase contingencies and owner costs such as furniture and bedding.

John Cameron of municipal finance firm Ehlers outlined a two-step financing approach intended to reduce near-term taxpayer impact by phasing borrowing to align with existing debt retirements. He said the first issue would be competitively sold this fall, with closing expected in late October, and the second issue timed with the city’s 2026 capital borrowing. Cameron said the plan assumes conservative equalized-value growth and built-in interest-rate cushions for market volatility.

Council members and staff discussed traffic at the proposed site, saying the city is working with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation on signal control options so emergency vehicles can clear congested intersections during peak travel. A resident asked whether future larger apparatus could be accommodated; Trevor Frank said the site design is sized to accommodate large trucks and that modern steering systems on apparatus are improving maneuverability.

No formal council vote was taken June 16. Mayor Joel Longert and staff said the council would consider a resolution on the project at its July 7 meeting and that the city will continue plan commission reviews and site-acquisition steps until then. City staff estimated demolition and a potential groundbreaking could begin as soon as September, contingent on site acquisition and approvals.

The presentation and Q&A included detailed technical and budget information; staff said additional design and cost updates will come with 60% and 90% drawings before the project goes to bid.