The old Pismo Beach City Hall building on Bello Street has sat vacant for more than 20 years.

Now, it seems to be heading toward a new life as a fire station and communications center, as part of the city’s anticipated fire and police department expansion in that area.

The brick building has had myriad uses in its 94-year lifespan. It was built as a schoolhouse in 1923, housing Pizmo Grammar School until 1948. The city purchased the building in 1953 and used it as its city hall until 1995, until moving to its current City Hall on Mattie Road.

Since then, the Bello Street building has been used mostly for storage.

In 2012, the building came close to being demolished because of asbestos in the roof, water damage throughout the building and mold in the basement. Officials worried the building had become a collapse hazard. After some outcry from residents, the city decided to repair the more dangerous parts of the building and start figuring out how it could be reused.

On Tuesday, the Pismo Beach City Council heard a study regarding the Bello Street corridor — the council’s first step in determining how it can use the historic building without changing the character of the neighborhood.

“Generally what we heard was that they like the neighborhood,” Community Development Director Jeff Winklepleck said in presenting the study. “They did not want any sort of market or anything they thought would really change the character of that neighborhood.”

Staff recommended using the building to expand the neighboring fire and police stations. The two emergency services share a lot next to the old city hall building, and the tight quarters limit the two departments’ operations, staff said.

First Look at Derby's (KS) New Fire Station

Posted: Jan 18, 2017

First Look at Derby's (KS) New Fire Station

The design of Derby's new fire station made its public debut at the Jan. 10 city council meeting and while members approved the look and function, they had lots of questions for the architects. So many that they ended up spending an hour examining the artist's rendering of the 20,842-square-foot structure and the site plan.

In the end, the council approved the design and authorized GLMV Architecture to proceed to develop construction documents.

The fire station is scheduled to be built in 2018 and replace the current aging Station 81, which is now at 128 W. Market. That property will be retained by the city, but used for other functions.

Derby has one other fire station, which is at 1401 N. Rock Road.

City officials say the new station is needed for a number of reasons, including being closer to where the city's growth is taking place. Along with improving response times, it will avoid issues with the railroad tracks, which the current Station 81 has.

That includes traffic backing up when trains are passing by. The new station also will be able to offer the administrative part of the department adequate room.

At the council meeting, members said a close examination of the design was justified, especially considering the amount of tax dollars and the fact that this structure will be serving Derby for decades to come.

"This is a big deal for us," Mayor Randy White said to the three-member team from GLMV who had come to city hall to make their presentation. "This is something for us to be proud of."

Council members explained to the team that while they liked the design, they wanted to make sure taxpayers were getting their money's worth from the $6.5 million project.

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