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Council directs further analysis on relocating Fire Station 1; concerns raised about parking and EOC capacity
Summary
Laguna Beach council and consultants discussed test-fit designs to relocate Fire Station 1, seismic risks at the existing station and options for an on-site Emergency Operations Center; staff was asked to evaluate other publicly and privately owned sites and return quickly with alternatives.
City consultants presented test-fit options for relocating Fire Station 1 to the village parking lot adjacent to the farmer’s market and discussed trade-offs including loss of roughly 30 parking spaces, circulation for modern apparatus and the inclusion of an Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
Charlie Williams of LPA Design Studios described an option with a two-story fire station with approximately 11,600 square feet of program space and noted a potential third level to accommodate an EOC. “If you've got a concern about mass and scale as it relates to the existing city hall...you could also reconsider doing something here that would introduce a pretty significant seismic retrofit to accommodate that,” Williams said. He added that modern fire apparatus require broad circulation and that a pull-through configuration increases site footprint and cost.
Consultants and staff identified seismic nonconformance at the existing station as a primary driver for relocation. Williams explained that “this existing facility doesn't meet current seismic requirements,” and retrofitting it for continued fire-service use would be costly and could affect the building’s historic character.
Council concerns and direction
Council members raised three recurring concerns: (1) where the station should be located to meet standards-of-coverage response goals; (2) the effect of relocating the station on downtown parking; and (3) whether the new facility should include an integrated EOC or whether the CRC should remain the city’s EOC.
City Manager Dave Kiff said staff can accelerate analysis of alternative locations and return to council: “I think we can turn that around pretty quickly.” Council members asked staff to look beyond city‑owned parcels and include privately owned sites such as the Christmas tree lot, and to produce a comparative analysis of response-time impacts, turnaround/circulation requirements, entitlement and purchase costs, and parking trade-offs.
Operational continuity and shared facilities
Council and consultants discussed options for temporarily housing fire services during construction and whether police and fire functions could be consolidated on a single site. The consultants said shared-use approaches (for example, a community room that converts to an EOC) can work in some jurisdictions but noted such conversions are less effective when office space is in continuous use.
Next steps
Staff and consultants were directed to (a) evaluate alternative locations (public and private) to meet standards of coverage, (b) quantify parking loss and mitigation (including potential parking structure options), (c) estimate costs for retrofit versus replacement and inclusion of an EOC, and (d) return with a timeline and options at the next meetings so the council can decide a path forward.
