Scott Shumaker
East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.)
(TNS)
Dec. 14—Work on a $44 million, 50,000-square-foot combined police and fire station at the northeast corner of Brown and Power Roads — dubbed the Northeast Public Safety Facility — got underway this month as City Council approved a construction contract and celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony earlier this month.
When completed, the facility will include four fire apparatus bays, room for two fire crews, one ambulance crew, and one battalion crew.
The police side will be able to accommodate up to 150 police officers with locker rooms, offices, briefing rooms and a holding area for processing suspects before transport.
Final design work on the project continues and construction is slated to begin in the spring, with an estimated completion date in late 2024.
The police and fire stations will share a lobby, community rooms and gym in the center of the facility, but will occupy separate wings of the building.
Based on its location, City Manager Chris Brady predicted that the new station would have a “significant impact” on emergency response times in this part of east Mesa and have a “trickle effect” on times throughout the city.
Brady said the site of the new station was identified during an analysis of repose times to identify slow spots.
The analysis showed that many of the hot spots for slower-than-target response times were concentrated in east Mesa.
In remarks before the groundbreaking, Mesa Police Chief Ken Cost described the current challenges for response times in this part of the city.
“We have officers right now that are responding to Las Sendas and then might have to go all the way down to Eastmark, and back and forth,” Cost said. “Minutes and seconds matter and … this substation is going to be quite a big deal for both District 5 and 6.”
City Engineer Beth Huning told Council in a study session last month that the city identified a need for police and fire in the same area, and that building a combined facility helped save money by maximizing shared assets like parking and community rooms.
Due to inflationary pressures affecting all city projects, costs for the original 57,000 square foot building planned for the 8-acre site came in $11 million above the $37 million authorized by the 2018 bond package that funds the facility.
The city’s architects revised the designs, trimming about 6,000 square feet and $5 million from the plans without compromising functionality, Brady said.
The project is still $6.8 million over the 2018 budget, so the city is covering the difference from $10 million set aside in this year’s budget for “construction inflation overrun.”
“This was so important from a public safety standpoint, that of the $10 million, we needed to dedicate a significant portion to deliver the project,” Brady said.
“It’s going to improve our response and the efficiency of the fire department tremendously… and we need to get this delivered. We need to get this built,” he added.
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