GILROY
– In a year expected to shatter records for Gilroy public
construction projects with nearly $22 million in planned ventures,
the $3.7 million Sunrise Fire Station in the city’s Northwest Quad
has the inside track to be the first major city facility
constructed since 1980.
On Monday night city staff will recommend to City Council that a
bid from Gilroy-based Farotte Construction be accepted to construct
Gilroy’s third fire station.
GILROY – In a year expected to shatter records for Gilroy public construction projects with nearly $22 million in planned ventures, the $3.7 million Sunrise Fire Station in the city’s Northwest Quad has the inside track to be the first major city facility constructed since 1980.
On Monday night city staff will recommend to City Council that a bid from Gilroy-based Farotte Construction be accepted to construct Gilroy’s third fire station.
Out of seven bids the city received for the new station at 880 Sunrise Dr., Farotte Construction’s delivered the only estimate under $3 million. And although Farotte’s bid of $2,983,146 is 6.5 percent higher than city estimates of $2.8 million, it’s well within the 10 percent “target zone” the city budgets for when dealing with large capital improvement projects.
That percentage is in stark contrast to the final construction bids recently received for the planned Gilroy police station. Construction on a new station was originally scheduled to begin this summer, but the low bid of $26.1 million is nearly 50 percent – or $8 million – higher than city engineers estimated. The police station’s future remains in limbo.
Construction will on the new fire station in June and is scheduled to be complete by April 2004. However, due to budget restraints resulting from the city’s increasingly burdened General Fund, full staffing for the new station has not yet been approved by the city, and neither fire or city officials are giving a time frame when that may change.
The GFD hired three new paramedic/firefighters earlier this week, and two more are scheduled to be hired before July, bringing the total number of Gilroy firefighters to 36.
“Of course we wish we had the resources to staff the facility right now, but unfortunately that’s just not possible,” said Gilroy Fire Department Chief Jeff Clet. “But what we can do is provide enough staff to improve our medical coverage throughout the city and augment our additional staff in the event of a fire.”
While the actual construction of the facility will cost just under $3 million, three years of city staff time planning the building and other related costs raises the total price tag of the new station to $3.7 million.
More than 80 percent of the funds used to build the Sunrise Station will come from fire impact fees collected from local developers during the past decade, the remaining will come from sewer impact fees also stored in the city’s Capital Improvement Budget, according to Bill Headley, the city’s facilities and parks development manager. The sewer impact fees will be used because a municpal water well is planned to be built behind the fire station.
Site plans for the new station call for a 8,500 sq. ft. fire station. Gilroy’s two current fire stations, Chestnut (Chestnut Streat near 10th) and Las Animas (Wren Avenue), are 6,500 sp. ft. and 5,600 sq. ft., respectively.
“Unlike with the police station, this one went as planned,” Headley said. “We’re very pleased with the bid, and it’s always good to see a local company win the bidding.”
Starting in July, continuous shifts including one Gilroy firefighter/paramedic and one EMS trained firefighter will begin providing medical coverage to the city’s Northwest Quad while working out of a temporary trailer on the Sunset station site.
The two-man shifts are only half the typical four-man teams that work at the city’s two other fire stations, but Clet said because the station’s crew will focus on medical coverage instead of fire protection, city bylaws requiring four firefighters to an engine company won’t apply.
Instead of a fire engine, the temporary facility will house the GFD’s new $268,000 Supplemental Transport Ambulance Resources vehicle, or STAR Car, which is a specially designed heavy-duty rescue ambulance that also carries an assortment of fire-fighting tools and rescue equipment.
Clet said this week the GFD will not be able to begin using the car until mid-August due to manufacturer’s delays. The car, purchased using city general funds, was originally scheduled to be at the Sunries station when the temporary facility opened July 1.
The Sunrise crews manning the temporary facility will use a EMS truck as for their transportation until the STAR Car arrives, Clet said. When the STAR Car does arrive, Gilroy will double its ambulance inventory to two.
More than 80 percent of the GFD’s calls are for medical aid.
“What (the new fire station) is doing is greatly increasing our medical response to the Northwest Quad section of the city along with the rest (of the town),” said Clet, pointing out that the GFD’s response times to the Northwest Quad are currently much slower than the rest of the city due to the area’s isolated location from the city’s two current fire stations.
Clet also said the GFD’s administration team is currently working on a plan to present to City Council this fall suggesting a time-frame for the full staffing of the Sunrise Station.
“Everyone wants to know when we’ll have full staff at the new station, but until we get finished with our plan we’ll just be guessing,” Clet said. “It’s nice to know we’ll have the facility in place when we’re ready to add staff.”
