Brooklyn Park plans to ask the Minnesota legislature to help finance a rebuild of the Central Fire Station for an estimated $25.7 million, hometownsource.com reported.
The Brooklyn Park City Council approved the project as part of its legislative priority list for the upcoming year on Jan. 17, the report said.
Fire Chief John Cunningham told the council that all of the city’s fire stations are outdated, and were designed for a paid-on-call staffing model rather than the full-time staffing model used by the department, the report said.
The Central Fire Station, located at 5700 85th Avenue North, is the largest firehouse in the department’s hub-and-spoke model.
The design and engineering work for the proposed new firehouse have not been completed, but Cunningham said the city would likely tear down the former Hennepin County Library building near the Community Activity Center and relocate the station north to that site, according to the report.
The new firehouse would be home to the fire department administration, the fire marshal division, a fire and EMS training area, and the city’s secure Emergency Operations Center located on-site, the report said.