Hema Sivanandam – Bay Area News Group
(TNS)

BRENTWOOD — The Brentwood Planning Commission on Tuesday denied an application to build a new downtown fire station, citing that the building’s architectural design did not resemble others in the area or reflect the city’s agricultural roots.

The commission unanimously rejected a design review application from the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District to construct a new 8,137-square-foot fire station next to Brentwood Veteran’s Memorial Hall on First Street.

Commissioner Jeremy Jones recused himself from the meeting, citing that his employer has a building near the proposed station.

Aaron McAlister, deputy fire chief for the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, said the district was “obviously disappointed” with the commission’s decision and will appeal to the Brentwood City Council.

“The city code says that we have 10 days to appeal, so we will be filing our appeal within that period,” McAlister told this news organization.

He said nine firefighters had already been hired for the proposed downtown Fire Station 94 after they graduated from the firefighter’s academy.

“Now we’re in a situation where those firefighters won’t be going to Brentwood for a long period of time; they are going to serve in other communities until we get a fire station,” said McAlister.

During Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners cited several concerns in their decision to turn down the widely debated project, including that it did not meet requirements under the Brentwood Municipal Code.

Commissioners felt the building does not create a “well-composed urban design” and does not complement the existing buildings in the downtown area due to the project’s size and brick composition.

They also found the project fell short in meeting the adequate landscaping required under the Downtown Specific Plan.

Planning Commission Vice Chairperson Kristopher Brand said the project needed a conditional use permit, which he felt was “overlooked” as the building has a gym on the ground floor.

Brand pointed out that the fire department’s supplemental fuel tank and generator, which are the core aspects of the infrastructure, would extend the minimum width of the building.

“The generator lands against the wall that opens for the parking lot adjacent to it, so from my perspective, that means it’s outside of that range,” said Brand. “Which means we do have an infrastructure that is absolutely necessary for the function and legal operation of the station on the ground floor that extends beyond that. Therefore, we need some kind of conditional use permit as per the Downtown Specific Plan.”

Fellow Commissioner Anita Roberts said she “will not rubber stamp” the project without the answers she requested on its impact.

“It’s offensive to me, and as far as I’m concerned, until I get the answers that I was looking for, I cannot in good conscience speak on this,” said Roberts. “I could not tell the fire department how much water they should put in the tank. They cannot tell this planning commission what it is that we need to do.”

In March, the Brentwood Planning Commission postponed its decision on the project despite a five-hour deliberation as they instructed city staff to provide details on the impact it would have on traffic, noise, and air quality.

The proposed Fire Station 94 has continuously faced objections from local military veterans and residents, who claim the site has been “historically and legally

R. Christian Smith
Chicago Tribune
(TNS)

The Aurora City Council next week is set to consider a new $35 million fire department headquarters building that would also include a relocated Fire Station 4.

The new fire station and headquarters building would be located on the site of the current Aurora Police Department headquarters, which is located on Indian Trail, to create a combined Aurora Public Safety Campus.

Aurora Fire Department officials have said this move would improve the department’s operations in multiple ways, including lower fire and emergency medical response times, much-needed expanded office space for department administration and a new storm-hardened, high-tech Emergency Operations Center.

The Aurora City Council’s Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee previously approved resolutions establishing a public safety campus subdivision and setting a plan for the site.

Now, two more resolutions related to the project are set to go before the City Council at its meeting on Tuesday.

One of these resolutions would approve the $29.5 million construction of the new Aurora Fire Department headquarters and another would roughly double the dollar amount of a contract with Cordogan Clark of Aurora for architectural, design, engineering and construction services to a total cost of around $2.2 million.

Aldermen have already discussed the two items at length. The proposed new Aurora Fire Department headquarters went before the City Council’s Committee of the Whole on Tuesday, and it previously spent weeks before the Infrastructure and Technology Committee before it was moved along the approval process.

The project is expected to cost the city a total of $34.9 million. Beyond what is included in the two resolutions set to go before the City Council next week, additional costs include the purchase of technology and furniture for the new headquarters as well as utility connections, builders risk insurance and contingencies, according to past reporting.

Cordogan Clark’s contract is proposed to be increased because the amount was negotiated as a percentage of the construction cost, which rose from an original estimation of around $15.5 million to its currently proposed amount, city staff previously said.

The estimated price to construct the project rose because of inflation but also because the project expanded in part because a space for the Aurora Emergency Management Agency was added to the proposed fire department headquarters building, officials have previously said.

According to Ald. Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, the City Council was not consulted about this expansion of the project when it happened. Aldermen only learned about the jump in price when the project came before the Infrastructure and Technology Committee last month, he previously said.

He was the only vote against the two items at the April 21 Infrastructure and Technology Committee meeting. While other aldermen on the committee had a number of questions, they still voted to continue moving the project through the approval process.

Questions from aldermen continued at Tuesday

Beaver Dam should build a new fire station rather than renovate the existing 65-year-old facility that isn’t designed for modern times, the architect studying the issue told the Common Council on Monday.

The city also may potentially benefit from a second fire station.

The Beaver Dam City Council approved an agreement in January for contracting services with Five Bugles Design to conduct a needs analysis and assess conditions at the Fire Department building and City Hall and Laura Eysnogle, an architect for the firm, gave an update this week.

“The facility has served you guys really well for a long time, but if we were to stay on this property, I would recommend raising the facility and starting over,” Eysongle said.

Constructed in 1959, the building has had numerous additions, but it is landlocked, she said. The municipal building is bordered by streets on three sides and has houses behind it, preventing additional growth of the lot.

“The apparatuses have grown significantly since then and at the time, fire service was a male-dominated industry,” she said. “There were no such things as female firefighters. All those things have changed since then.”

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“I would love to see it come back but people have to realize they have to support it,” Mary Vogl-Rauscher said.

Five Bugles Design did study the possibility of renovating the existing fire department but found a lot of logistical problems. Among them: That the city would have to find a way to operate a fire department during the renovation and the building would have to be brought up to current code, Eysongle said.

“Renovating this building will be expensive,” she said. “It will be a complete overhaul.”

The city would have to decide it the current municipal building is worth saving, she said. And building something new brings a bunch of other questions, including whether a new facility that is up to code could fit on the current site and whether the city should consider adding a second fire station.

Beaver Dam Farmers Market returns for the season

“You get fresh, local food, get a great social outing, and support your community— all in one stop,” Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tracy Propst said.

The next step in the study is a geographic information study that will map out all the fire department’s service calls and look at how long it takes to get from the station to the service site.

Ald. Mick Fischer said the growth with businesses on the north side of the city is also something to consider.

Notably, Generac is nearing completion on a 300,000-square-foot facility to produce industrial generators that is expected to employ about 350 people. And a$1 billion data center is being built on the 834 acres of property that the city annexed into Beaver Dam in September.

“With the addition of Generac and this new AI facility, we are going to be bringing people into Beaver Dam,” Fischer said.

Beaver Dam eyes more housing, completion of Generac plant in 2025

Beaver Dam will be seeing several changes in 2025 including the completion of several housing projects as well as the completion of Generac, 110 Tower Drive.

Figuring out which direction the city should take to provide fire services is expected to take years.

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