Crestview unveils 10-year facilities master plan; council authorizes design work on Fire Station 3

Crestview — Ajax Building Company presented a programmatic master plan April 20 outlining multi-year facility projects for Crestview, and the council authorized immediate design and pre-construction work on Fire Station 3 so renovation and mold remediation can occur together.

Judd West of Ajax Building Company told the council the firm and its partners spent eight months meeting with city staff, visiting sites and compiling a 232-page programming packet that inventories current facilities and estimates future needs. He said the plan is a “living document” intended to guide decisions over roughly a seven- to ten-year horizon and to produce rough-order-of-magnitude cost ranges that are planning tools rather than construction bids.

“Those numbers are just planning tools, not actual construction bids,” Judd West said. The program highlighted public-safety needs — a consolidated public safety building with fire, police and dispatch functions — as well as a priority list that includes renovations to Fire Station 3, two new fire stations, an animal-control facility, sports-complex improvements and interim renovations to city hall.

City staff and the design team said the immediate priority is Fire Station 3, where mold was discovered and firefighters had been displaced. Staff recommended renovating the entire station rather than only performing isolated mold remediation so crews are not relocated multiple times. Deputy Fire leadership attended the meeting, and staff said renovations would be coordinated with mitigation work.

Councilman Hayes moved and Councilman Nelson seconded a motion to authorize staff to request a design and pre-construction task order for Ajax for Fire Station 3; the motion carried 4-0 with one absence. Staff described the next steps: finalize the design scope, prepare permit-ready documents, solicit competitive construction pricing and return to council with guaranteed-price construction proposals before construction begins.

Why it matters: The master plan aggregates many facility needs and provides programming, timelines and rough cost estimates to inform bonding, grants or phased capital spending. Authorizing design work on Fire Station 3 starts a sequence of design, permitting and procurement that will lead to construction if council later approves the guaranteed-price contract.

What’s next: Staff will request a fee proposal from Ajax for design and pre-construction services; design deliverables and a competitive construction procurement will be brought back to council for approval prior to awarding construction contracts.