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Spanish Fork council directs staff to advance Station 61 rebuild design and bidding
Summary
City staff, fire leadership and architects presented faults at the existing Station 61 and recommended building a new, expandable firehouse at a city-owned 200 West site. Council voted to direct staff to finish construction documents and solicit bids, with a GMP to return for approval.
After a months‑long review of options for Station 61, Spanish Fork City Council on Jan. 20 directed staff to finish construction documents and proceed to bidding for a proposed new firehouse on the 200 West block near Center Street.
City Manager Seth and Fire Chief Eddie Hales told the council the existing Station 61, built in 1996, is constrained operationally and functionally for today’s career fire and EMS staffing. “Lights are on. There’s no break there to let us to go out,” Hales said during the presentation, describing near‑misses and the difficulty of turning left onto Main Street during peak traffic. Hales said firefighters are currently housed in two single‑wide mobile homes and in converted office space, and that the station experiences weekly sewer backups that staff must flush with a hose.
Heber Slabbert, lead architect with AJC Architects, summarized site constraints for retrofitting the Main Street location: inadequate apron depth for apparatus doors, overhead utility easements that limit building height and footprint, and a non‑active well that would require capping and structural fill. Slabbert said those factors make a retrofit costly and operationally risky.
Staff recommended rebuilding at a city‑owned site between Center Street and 1st South (the 200 West block). Officials said the new location would increase safety for apparatus exits, give more direct access to all quadrants of the city, and allow an "accordion" design that scales dormitory space up or down as staffing needs change.
Project timeline and financing: Matt Romero, project manager, said construction documents were targeted to be complete Feb. 1, with bids in March and a construction start in April–May 2026. He estimated a construction cost of about $15 million and approximately $18 million total with soft costs (FF&E, security, alerting). Seth said the proposal assumes about $3 million in cash reserves and roughly $15 million financed by debt; staff projected that public safety impact fees (historically $800,000–$1.2 million per year) could cover about half of annual debt service, subject to legal eligibility.
Council discussion focused on safety, phasing and the disposition of the current station site. Staff proposed two "go/no‑go" checkpoints: the guaranteed maximum price (GMP) returned by the construction manager (expected March/April) and a parameters resolution for bonding that would follow.
Councilman Euler moved to direct staff to proceed with the construction documents and bidding and to return a recommended GMP for council review. Councilwoman Beck seconded the motion. The roll call recorded Councilman Took "Yes," Councilman Euler "Yes," Councilwoman Beck "Yes," and Councilman Carden "Yes." The motion carried.
Next steps: staff will finalize construction documents, seek bids, and return with the GMP and proposed bond parameters for council approval. If approved, the project construction would proceed with an anticipated operational date in late summer–fall 2027.
