Salina approves $11 million to build new fire station

After the cost of construction has increased since originally proposed, the Salina City Commission on Monday approved $11 million to design and build a new fire station.

Fire Station No. 4 is set to be relocated to a new plot to the north of Berkley Family Recreational Area as the city recognized that much of the development in the community was moving to that eastern part of the city.

"Relocation...has been included in the city's long-range planning since about 2014, or maybe even before that time frame," said Jacob Wood, deputy city manager for Salina.

Scaling back the design of Fire Station No. 4 to fit budget

In 2023, the city began working with WSKF Architects for phase one design of the station, and since then have had meetings with Salina Fire Department personnel to determine what the needs are for the department. When the architects initially came back to the city, the estimated cost was around $10.1 million for construction, which exceeded the $9 million to $9.5 million cost the city was comfortable with.

"So, we (wanted to) regroup, take another look at this, see if there's some things we have in (this design) that are wants and not needs and see if we can pare it back a little bit," Wood said.

Some of that paring back includes reducing the size of certain elements of the station, such as a training room, data room and some of the living space that would house firefighters and paramedics.

According to documents presented to the commission, the new cost would be around $9.4 million for final schematic design and construction.

Discussion about an 'art component' at Fire Station No. 4

Included in the $11 million price tag would be a proposed art installation at the new station that would cost up to $400,000 or around 4.5% of the total project cost. This art component was the center of much of the discussion from commissioners and the public during the meeting.

"The city's community art and design policy provides for a project like this we can spend up to 5% of the total project cost allocated to those art components," Wood said.

Commission Mike Hoppock said he had concerns with including that much funding in the total cost of the project for art.

"Philosophically, I have a problem with the fire department (being) willing to reduce the space to try to reduce the cost, but then have a $400,000 art component," Hoppock said. "Looking at the schematics, I think engineering and architecture can make a building look more than adequate without an extra $400,000 being spent on some type of art project."

Hoppock said as the decision makers for how taxpayers' money is spent, he believes there could be some adjustment to that proposal.

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"To put a $400,000 amount on there sounds exorbitant, especially when there are value engineering decisions that have been made," said Brad Anderson, director of arts and humanities for the City of Salina.

Anderson said he realizes the decision was ultimately up to the city commission about how much, if any, funding would be included for public art in this project and that what that amount is would help CAD relay to the commission what kinds and scale of art could be considered.

"At that 4.5% for instance...we'd able, with your direction, to say we're really interested in a standalone, beacon of a piece for the eastern edge of town and the first city facility people are going to come into," Anderson said.

If this kind of art piece is what would be in mind for the commissioners, Anderson said that $400,000 is really what would be needed to accomplish that.

On the other hand, Anderson said CAD and arts and humanities has also been able to work with smaller budgets to incorporate artistic elements into necessary components of architecture in the city, such as shading for windows at the Salina Fieldhouse.

Wood said that the commission could make the decision to authorize the full $11 million on Monday and then decide at a later time how much of that might be allocated to art.

"That amount is just the starting point of the conversation," said City Manager Mike Schrage. "All of this is going to have to come back for final approval. I don't think there's any way we're going to sneak some art by you without it being brought back for your consideration."

In the end, the commission voted 5-0 to approve the $11 million project. At this time, the city is hopeful that construction of the new Fire Station No. 4 will begin in fall 2024 with completion by early 2026.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina approves $11 million to build new fire station