Frequently Asked Questions

The city carefully evaluated whether renovating and expanding the existing station could meet the department's needs. That analysis found that renovation would require gutting the building down to its exterior walls, rerouting utilities and rebuilding the roof.

The cost of renovation came within roughly $3 million of the cost of a new facility while only providing a short-term fix and requiring major additional investment within a decade.

Even then, it would still not fully meet today's needs or provide enough space for future growth. The department would also have to be temporarily housed somewhere else during construction, adding costs and affecting emergency response services.

The North Fire Station was built as a satellite facility to support an older staffing model where paid on-call firefighters responded from home or day jobs. Since 2022, all emergency response has come from the South Fire Station, with duty crews living and working in the building 24/7.

Today, the North Fire Station is mainly used for additional vehicle and equipment storage because the South Fire Station doesn't have enough space.

Shifting full-time operations to the North Fire Station wouldn't solve these challenges. It would require significant investment to convert the building for 24/7 use, and it isn't positioned to serve the entire community as efficiently as the South Fire Station's location.

Every year we wait, the problem gets more expensive to solve — and the challenges at the current station continue to affect firefighters every day. Construction costs are rising 5–7% each year and have climbed roughly 50% over the past five years. Delaying the project doesn't make it more affordable; it makes it harder to deliver the same project for the same investment.

At the same time, maintenance on the current station has been deferred to avoid putting significant dollars into a building the city plans to replace. If a new station doesn't move forward, critical repairs will still be needed — costing taxpayers more without solving the underlying problems.

Meanwhile, firefighters continue working in a facility that falls short of what they need to stay healthy, safe and ready to respond when every second counts.

In June 2026, the City Council voted to rescind its preliminary approval of the CIP and bond issuance for the project to restart the public engagement process.

This does not mean the city is canceling its plans to build a new fire station. After years of study, it has become clear that a renovation will be challenged to meet the needs of a modern fire department or the community, and waiting will only make the project more expensive. But before moving forward, the city wants to make sure residents have a clear understanding of the challenges and the plan as well as a chance to ask questions and share their ideas.