By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
The City of Mesquite has begun the process of designing and engineering a new fire station to service the quickly-growing Sun City area at the north end of the city.
In a meeting held on Tuesday, April 9, members of the city council, sitting as the Redevelopment Authority (RDA) board, approved nearly $350,000 in RDA funds to be spent on architectural and engineering services for a new Fire Station #2 being proposed at the corner of Canyon Crest and Horizon Blvd.
Acting City Manager Martine Green told the board that the RDA fund currently has a little over $10 million in its budget.
“So what we are proposing to do today is exploring the possibility of building a new “substation” for the fire department on the north end of town near Sun City,” Green said. “In order to obtain actual costs of this new station, it is necessary to have architectural and engineering plans completed. So that is our starting point.”
Mesquite Fire Chief Jayson Andrus told the board that call volumes had increased dramatically in the area north of I-15 as the Sun City community had developed and grown.
“We want to keep up with our response times in that area, so we are requesting that we begin architectural plans so that we can come back to the city council with a price,” he said.
Andrus acknowledged that the planning on Fire Station #1, which is now under construction on Mesquite Blvd., had been “a little bit of a roller coaster.”
That station had originally started with a projected cost of $4 million, but through the COVID-19 pandemic, that number ballooned. It is now expected to end up as a $12 million building by the time it is completed.
“That was partly my fault in trying to find current market bids during COVID,” Andrus said. “We are trying not to repeat that scenario with Station 2 so we are trying to come to the city council with a bid that follows architectural plans.”
Board member Brian Wursten acknowledged the need for the new station and was concerned about the fact that the Sun City area might quickly outgrow the substation currently being planned.
“Is this piece of property big enough that we can expand and grow?” Wursten asked. “Because that is going to end up probably being our biggest fire station when all is said and done.”
Andrus responded that this factor is in consideration on the current site plans. He pointed out that Station #1 on Mesquite Blvd. is currently being built on 1.3 acres. In comparison, the proposed parcel for Station #2 is 4.3 acres.
“I believe that we will have more than 4 acres of land to grow and build as our community continues to grow,” Andrus said.
Andrus also assured that the Station #2 plans were being done in a way that would allow for easy future expansion of the station as needed.
With a desire to remain consistent, board member Karen Fielding asked how the Station #1 architectural plans had been funded.
City Engineer Travis Anderson responded that those previous plans had been paid for out of RDA funds. But the construction of the station was then funded through federal American Rescue Funds, he added.
“We are going to try to take this one step at a time,” said Green. “We hope that you will approve this, and then we will see the costs and figure out where to go from there.”
Board member Wes Boger made a motion to approve the architectural and engineering services as proposed through Simpson Coulter Studio in the amount of $347,940. The motion was adopted with a unanimous vote of the board.
