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West Bend officials unveil $24.7 million plan to replace Fire Station 1 at Johnson Bus site
Summary
City staff and consultants presented a 44,700-square-foot design and a two-step $24.7 million financing plan for a replacement Fire Station 1 at the Johnson Bus site; the proposal aims to improve response times and add training, health and decontamination facilities and will return to the Common Council for a vote July 7.
West Bend officials presented detailed plans on June 16 for replacing Fire Station 1 with a roughly 44,700-square-foot, single-story facility sited on the Johnson Bus property and estimated at $24.7 million. The design team said the new station would improve response coverage, add a tactical training area and modernize living and decontamination spaces for firefighters.
The proposal matters because the city says the new location and layout would shorten response times for more households and accommodate modern equipment and training needs. "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," said Trevor Frank, lead architect and principal in charge for SEH.
City fire officials and consultants described program highlights including drive-through apparatus bays to reduce backing maneuvers, hot/warm/cold-zone decontamination to limit contaminant exposure, gender-neutral sleeping and locker areas, interior training mezzanines and an adjacent tactical training (burn) tower. Chief Noren said the Johnson Bus site was chosen chiefly to expand westward coverage: "The Johnson Bus site was selected as an ideal site. It currently protects 11,000 households, going up from 6,10,698," he said, citing the project team’s response-time modeling.
Construction and schedule: consultants reported the project is at roughly 30% design. If the council approves the plan at its July 7 meeting, site acquisition and demolition could begin later this year and a target groundbreaking was described as early September, with construction completion anticipated in August 2026.
Budget and financing: CD Smith and the city’s financial advisor presented a two-step borrowing plan. The first issuance is scheduled for fall 2025 with a proposed par of $20.15 million; a second financing of about $4.8 million would follow in early 2026 to cover remaining costs and permit any grant offsets. John Cameron of Eller said the combined financing would be amortized over 20 years and summarized the modeled homeowner effect: "The average, annual impact over [a] 21 year period of time ... to the average homeowner is $78 on the property tax bill," he said. Presentations to the council also showed the total per-household tax increase over the life of the debt would be about $1,634, assuming the plan and modeled growth assumptions hold.
Site, operations and safety: architects said the single-story design is intended to improve turnout times by avoiding stairs or poles; the firm also emphasized durable, low-maintenance materials, added energy-efficiency measures and space for near-term and long-term equipment growth. "Backing an apparatus is dangerous work. It requires a spotter," Trevor Frank said, explaining the rationale for drive-through bays.
Traffic and access concerns: several aldermen and attendees raised traffic- and intersection-control questions for the site’s access to Highway 33/45. Officials said they are coordinating with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and local signal engineers to design light-control or signal-priority solutions for emergency egress in peak traffic. "What you would do is ... work with both the DOT and ... the stoplight folks to design a process," an official said during the meeting.
Public comment and technical checks: a resident, Paul Fisher, asked whether larger future rigs would be accommodated when turning into the apparatus area; Trevor Frank responded that the site design uses turning templates for current largest rigs and that modern articulated steering on some vehicles is improving turning radii. He said the plan can accommodate the largest truck currently in the fleet.
Next steps: the council will take this as an action item on July 7; staff and consultants said they will return with 60% and 90% design and updated cost estimates before bidding. No formal bond issuance will occur until council finance approvals later in the fall if the project is authorized.
The presentation and public comments emphasized operational needs and firefighter health as primary drivers for the investment; final approval and the first financing steps are scheduled for future council action.
