City Administrator Tony Graff told the council the Fire Protection District has dropped off final designs for a proposed facility and the city is coordinating on access-road details ahead of a planning commission public hearing expected in March.

Graff said council comments from prior meetings — including a 25-foot berm, lighting, safety measures and sound reduction — will be included in the plan-unit-development standards for the public hearing. “So once we get those final standards and regulations, that'll be included in the public hearing,” Graff said.

Graff also reported the city is compiling costs related to a fire at the BL Duke Scribe Metal Recycling Yard, including staff salaries and an estimated water usage figure of 200,000 gallons that the fire department supplied. He said the incident revealed communication gaps between the city’s water department and the fire department; city staff are pursuing a grant to buy radios to provide direct communications to police and fire instead of relying on cell phones.

Why it matters: A new fire facility and upgraded communications affect emergency response, site access and neighborhood impacts; compiling costs from the recycling-yard fire may inform recovery, billing or reimbursement decisions.

Supporting details: Graff said the engineers and architects have provided final designs and staff are working on access-road arrangements. He added the city is discussing a grant to fund radios because public works vehicles do not currently have radios in their trucks. The council has not yet voted on any funding for the fire facility or the radios at this meeting.

Ending: Graff said the fire district’s plan unit development will likely go to the planning commission in March for a public hearing; staff will return to council with updates and any funding requests as needed.