HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-08-30 Transcription
August 30, 2006
City Council Work Session
Page I
August 30, 2006
City Council Work Session
4:45 P.M.
Council:
Bailey, Champion, Correia, Elliott, O'Donnell, Vanderhoef, Wilburn
Staff:
Dilkes, Karr, Atkins, Helling, Morris, Fire Chief Rocca, Battalion ChiefHumston
Others Present: Architect Will Downing with Rohrbach;Carlson Associates
Tapes:
06-67, BOTH SIDES
FIRE TRAINING CENTER:
(several talking at once)
Karr! ...You've got the same slides in front of you. Yeah, the handouts in front of you
(unable to hear) the slides.
Morris! Let's go ahead and start (unable to hear) schedule here. (unable to hear) You can
see there's a dramatically different (unable to hear) in terms of Station 2 (unable
to hear) It was a less expensive structure, but it was built to the standards at the
time, so it's not an issue of not being built to a certain standard, but it was
appropriate for that period. Station 3, again, is (unable to hear) because of that,
and as you can see from this (unable to hear), the new addition has (unable to
hear) and a high-quality roof and (unable to hear). Initially we had looked at
doing something like we did at Station 3, doing just a remodeling project to
expand sleeping quarters and also adding on space to accommodate a workout
area and similar to Station 3. What we found was that there were so many other
just logistical problems - water service, no sprinkler system, a dilapidated HV AC
system, dilapidated electrical system, and as we looked into it further, we decided
to do a feasibility to see if it's even worth trying to accomplish this type of
addition (unable to hear) and we'll go through some of what, the plans that we
looked at in terms of trying to come up with what would be an appropriate
(unable to hear). Andy had (unable to hear) about how we're looking to stay on
that site due to it meets many ofthe (unable to hear) for the community,
specifically that it addresses the service to the University. This is the (unable to
hear). These items, I'll go through them quickly, but these were the items that we
were trying to address. We asked the architect to look at that in the feasibility
study, and it's the first page that you have on your worksheets here. The way that
this is laid out is listed in priority of easiest to achieve and architecturally
economically, and so that's programmatically how we came up with the list...
Elliott! Top to bottom?
Morris! Top to bottom. Some of the, as you go further down, you'll see that some of the
items are much more costly to achieve, and so that's how we address our
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City Council Work Session
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concerns. The first item is an additional apparatus bay, and as you saw at the
station, there was a hazmat vehicle presently there. Generally, the standard is that
you have two vehicles for fire (unable to hear) but there should be the fire station
vehicle, as well as a secondary engine, minimally. Due to the fact that (unable to
hear) hazmat vehicle will not be able to do that at this time. So, there's not a
secondary vehicle require safety there at this point. The second item is single
room living quarters. That pretty much speaks for itself, We find that most
contemporary stations and most stations that are built at this time, have separate
sleeping. rooms. This creates better personnel relationships and morale (unable to
hear) and also creates better sleep for the staff and the major reason that we see a
lot of stations doing this presently is for mixed gender accommodations, and
again, privacy. The third item also addresses similar issues - female staff and
toilet. We've designated this as female stafftoilet and shower because that's
essentially what it is. It's to accommodate the required one gender, one per
gender for this type of occupancy. (unable to hear) And of course the station has
much better efficiency with two private restroom facilities. The third, excuse me,
the fourth item is the correct internal electrical deficiencies. Presently, as I said, it
doesn't meet Code. It was installed to Code at that time, so that's something to
think about. The generator at minimum needs a separate (unable to hear), which
it does not have presently, and presently, they're consistently having circuit
overload problems, and with any remodeling the deficiencies will need to be
addressed, regardless of what of these options you decide to do. Next is the fire
sprinkler and water service. Presently, this is (unable to hear) for the reason that
the existing water service is not large enough to handle that capacity. When it
was built, it was something that was, I believe, (unable to hear) but at the City and
Fire Department, encourage other facilities to (unable to hear), and (unable to
hear) built to a standard that we express that others should do. The next item on
the list is a fitness area in a controlled environment. As you saw, the Fire
Department has a fitness policy. It requires staffto train on the equipment
(unable to hear), and the existing station, as you recall here, it's right here on the
back of the bay. As I said, the station has no ventilation. It's just an air
conditioning unit, and it's subject to (unable to hear).. .also operationally, staff
has to trade times when they're able to accommodate exercise within the facility
itself. And then, next is the vehicle exhaust system. Again, it's not for the
modem standard for (unable to hear) and it's just not (unable to hear). Next is the
exterior materials and windows upgrade. (unable to hear) you saw that certain
windows were boarded up (unable to hear). Within the first (unable to hear) the
exterior materials and windows upgrade will have energy-efficient windows and
we requested durable exterior materials, whether it's some kind of durable siding,
and hopefully, masonry or concrete or something that's easy to maintain for the
staff. And...so, let's see, so the first sections of this (unable to hear) listed all of
the (unable to hear). The next will be accommodating with only particular plans
and you'll see as we go through this... .1'11 address these other items just so you
know what they are, and then when we go through (unable to hear). (unable to
hear) Presently the drive-through apparatus (unable to hear) have to be shared by
the staff. As you saw that parking has to be shared for the drive-through, and so
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Council meeting of August 30, 2006.
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City Council Wark Session
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there's some issues there when they have changing of shifts, in terms of people
coming in (unable to hear) going out, in terms oftrying to find parking spaces on
the side and not blocking the vehicles on the apron. Also, as you saw, vehicles
now are larger than when that facility was originally built; they're more expensive
vehicles (unable to hear), backing up to the garage at the incline that we saw at
the station, and the narrow street is also very (unable to hear). So that's one of the
(unable to hear) trying to accomplish with the functional site (unable to hear)
parking, and originally the apparatus bay was again designed for smaller vehicles
and trucks. The next item is full program accommodated. This may be a little bit
more difficult to explain, but basically if you were to build a station at this time,
we'd have certain requirements for an eating area or a kitchen area, or those types
of things (unable to hear). Most, much of that (unable to hear) those spaces that
have been changed and we've recoded what we think would address the needs of
a group of people living together on a 24-hour sort of basis, and so to
accommodate the full program and... there are different needs for (unable to hear).
Roofleaks corrected, and that's (unable to hear) self-explanatory. The leaks that
(unable to hear) is due to the shake and slope ofthe existing roof structure.
(unable to hear) just a maintenance problem. It has to do with the structure itself,
and to fix that means more than to tear out the existing roof membranes, but
(unable to hear) existing roof structure. Also, as you saw, the roof slopes (unable
to hear). That's some of the issues that we have with that facility. HV AC system
upgraded. All living quarters will have the new (unable to hear). Presently, we
saw some (unable to hear), we saw some...you could smell some of the moisture
problems that they have. It's actually...the HV...the air conditioning system
(unable to hear) system they have presently is a new system that was placed above
the attic because it was the only space that could accommodate it, and so there's
no floor space for that sort ofthing in the station itself, but we found that due to
its location in the attic, which is not cool for air condition which you wouldn't
expect the attic to be (unable to hear) and we have moisture and other type of
build up in the attic spaces. So that's something that, the HV AC (unable to hear)
but also accommodating those heating and ventilation issues that are (unable to
hear). The following, third from the top, is extending the life ofthe facility. A
new commercial-quality building would be (unable to hear) would be built with
some kind of durability for a long-term station. We're looking at masonry or
concrete. We're looking at something like 50-year plan for the station. The
concept of a life-plan for a facility is (unable to hear) last ten or fifteen years.
When this station was built, you know, in terms of thinking about life span and
how long it would accommodate the staff and so forth was not something that was
deeply considered at that time. Now we think about it has to last for generations
and how will it be, how will it be maintained, you know, and how does it easily
occupy for a long-term. So that's something that is, that was studied as well in
the feasibility study. And then, the last two items are dealing with the existing
garage. First is slope driveway alleviated. As you saw, there was a deep slope
and there's some issues with backing up to the garage, especially with Emerald
Street being so narrow, and (unable to hear) vehicle are so much larger than when
that station was built, and then lastly, an enlarged apparatus bay for safe passage.
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Council meeting of August 30, 2006.
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City Council Work Session
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And, as Andy pointed out, certain vehicles must lower its air suspension to the
(unable to hear).. .even that would make it very, very tight. It reduces response
time when leaving the station (unable to hear). .. . apparatus be safe for the staff.
You would have all bays accommodate larger vehicles. You'd have safe
passageway between the vehicles, as well as (unable to hear), and presently, the
existing garage doesn't meet any (unable to hear). So initially our first idea was
just to modify the station and do some of (unable to hear). We found that (unable
to hear)...what we're going to present is something dramatically different from
that. So, this is the first plan that we looked at and that is basically, was to add
sleeping accommodations - it's the second page of the (unable to hear) - and
sleeping accommodations and the apparatus bay, and this accomplishes the top
area, up to exterior materials and windows upgrade. However, there's some
major issues that does not address. The HV AC system, for one, the roof-leak
problem is another, sloped driveway (unable to hear) basic needs of separate,
private sleeping accommodations, restrooms, new toilets in bathroom, and also
the third bay for the secondary vehicle. The following plan (unable to hear) that
we were going to (unable to hear). Many communities are building (unable to
hear). The City of Phoenix builds a fire station every six months and they have a
proposed design standards for their fire stations that they have, and one of the
things that they have and many stations now look to, and what we see that's
recommended by the (unable to hear) is to have a drive-through bay, and they find
that response time is quicker. It's safer, rather than backing up large, expensive
vehicles into a garage space, to be able to get right out onto the access way and
also to come back in, and also you're accommodating more than one vehicle, it
just makes sense to be able to have both access ways available to you. This is the
second, Option B. It goes beyond the exterior to (unable to hear). It has
functional site circulation and parking. Separate parking accommodations,
separate sleeping areas, and more storage and a drive-through bay, but again, it
doesn't address the (unable to hear), and it's height and scale, and the main living
quarter issues of roofleaks, full program accommodations, air conditioning
upgrade, and extended life - we're still limiting the life of the station.
Humston/ One other issue here too is, we were. . . the first responding unit would come out
of the new drive-through bay, and you can see how far away it is from the
sleeping quarters and living quarters. So, it lengthens our ability, our travel
distance, to get to the rig, to get on it, and to respond. So it would increase our
response time by a, a layout like this, that the flow of traffic inside the structure is
really compromised by putting the bay way out there on the (unable to hear).
Morris/ The next plan, we're trying to somehow accommodate the sleeping areas together
and do something programmatically with the whole living quarters, and this
is.. . addresses the issues of sleeping and living quarters and all the (unable to
hear) facility that has the air conditioning, roofleaks, and certain other issues
accommodated.. .does not have a drive-through bay, which is something that
again is recommended by (unable to hear). It still maintains the existing bays that
are presently there. One of the things that we consider is that to jump financially
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Council meeting of August 30, 2006.
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City Council Work Session
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but the staff could almost be accommodated there almost until the very end until
the transition period, so I believe that with this (unable to hear) that staff would be
removed for a period of two months, at the most, yeah... but, again, it doesn't
accommodate the full program that we were hoping to achieve. And finally, this
is (unable to hear). It resolves many ofthe issues. It does involve a full (unable
to hear) on the site; however, we're looking at what is probably one of the major
issues is having the extended life on a station that's probably going to be there for
a very long time, due to its ideal location of service. We have the drive-through
bay (unable to hear) sleeping areas are accommodated. All...it has the larger
service area for housing all the vehicles, and it can accommodate a secondary
safety truck. It has space for the hazmat vehicle. It has space for storage. The, as
you can see, the physical workou(area has been removed. There's area for
storage, and also an area for office accommodations, and this is what the plan
ideally, if you were to look at something that would be a long-term facility on the
site, this is what we would recommend.
Elliott! This is three-vehicles wide for the storage areas. Enter Emerald, exit Melrose - is
that it?
Rocca! No. We'd enter off of Melrose. Respond to Emerald.
Elliott! Okay. Okay, so you'd always come out of Emerald then? Okay.
Rocca! Correct. When we're responding or leaving the station.
Elliott! Then I see what you meant by those lights, yeah.
Humstonl The first responding unit would be close to the living quarters; flow ofthe fire
fighters to the first unit would be improved by having it right by the living
quarters, and then a reserve apparatus and the hazmat vehicle would
accommodate the other two spaces. Because right now what happens is when
they respond to any kind of alarm, we do a callback. Folks come to the station,
there's no fire truck there. There's a hazmat vehicle, and they come back to
Stations I or 3, there's a reserve apparatus for them to staff in the event of other
calls in the City. They come back to this station, they don't have one. They have
to come downtown and get one or go to the training center (unable to hear) to
have a lead engine and a reserve apparatus (unable to hear).
O'Donne11l Is there a median on the road out there on Melrose?
Rocca! There is, and there would be some design work, I think, that would have to be
accommodated to do this in the Melrose (unable to hear).
(female)/ ...the engineer on the median, and also (unable to hear).
Vanderhoef/ So were you saying, Bob, that there was to be a light there at. . .
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Council meeting of August 30, 2006.
August 30, 2006
City Council Work Sessiou
Page 6
Elliott! No, no. I was asking Andy because my understanding, my misunderstanding
was, that you would exit, meaning you'd respond, on Melrose, and he's saying,
'No,' they just enter the station, return to the station, on Melrose so that's not an
emergency off of Melrose. The emergency would be onto Emerald, either way.
Humstonl (unable to hear) said earlier, that the times of year where we have a problem on
Melrose are a football Saturday, frankly, and (unable to hear). (laughter)
Morris/ Also, exiting out on Emerald Street gives the station the option of going (unable
to hear).
Correia! And so this would, I mean, this construction would change the site. It wouldn't
be any longer in a bowl?
Morris/ That's correct. That's the last two, which.. .you'd think it'd be the first two, but
there's such expensive processes to do to change that type of site elevation. That
would eliminate the issues with the driveway that we see and also the moisture
issues that we have seen, alleviating the (unable to hear).
Elliott! And, you're... the one you're suggesting, Option D, looks to be a little over
$300,000 more than Option C.
Morris/ That's correct.
Humstonl Bob, you asked about that service drive, that pump house (unable to hear).
You can see that we would use, would use that street to access parking for the
facility, and again, that's something that would be discussed.
Rocca! The gate that was adjacent, or closer to Emerald, moves up further west to
accommodate.
Humstonl Security reasons, but we would use that service drive then as parking.
O'Donnell/ What are we going to do on the lot, it's like it's in a ditch. Are we going to
bring in fill and level that up to some degree?
Rocca! (unable to hear) speak to this, but when you come in off of Melrose, you know,
you're... basically we would have not much of a grade there with the proposed
design, and so it would. It would be more gentle, would be fairly level coming in
off of Melrose, but less, I guess, exaggerated than it is currently because now
when you come out of the station, you actually have to go up the hill and then go
up or down Emerald Street, and that would be alleviated on the site. Obviously
we would meet grade at Melrose and Emerald.
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City Council Work Session
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Morris/ If you look at this plan right here, the first existing plan, you can see that there's a
(unable to hear) between contour lines (unable to hear) extreme drop from the top
of Emerald Street by the time you get down to the base of the garage. Ifwe look
at the new proposed, final design, you can see that most of that grading that
occurs, (unable to hear) in this area right here and then it's a softer, gentler slope
in this area. So there's quite a bit of (unable to hear) and that's why those two
items were the last items, which are expensive items and difficult items to pursue
with the existing stations and existing bays are able to be accommodated in this
last plan.
Bailey/ And, Andy, you mentioned that this station was also having sewer problems
(unable to hear), as well?
Rocca! I'm sure that any connection that would be made would be new connection. You
know, we've had fiber optic cameras down there trying to chase problems so it
certainly would be alleviated with new...
Humston/ Some of the problems are underneath the current facility....
Bailey/ Okay.
Humston/ So the sewer pipes have collapsed or sunk, and there's low spots in there,
where there tends to be a problem.
Elliott! And this doesn't impinge at all on the City's driveway to that storage facility?
Okay.
Vanderhoef/ Okay, so you can handle the water, stormwater situation, coming off of the
higher ground. One ofthe things that struck me as I was looking at the whole
area, and the problems we always have with flat roofs, and since the property to
the west is up the hill and a bigger structure, there wouldn't be any problem as far
as that site looking out of place to put a sloped roof on top of that station, just to
alleviate some ofthose kinds of problems. I don't know whether that's...
Morris/ Right, it's in a residential zone. I mean, it's within a residential zone (unable to
hear) so those types of accommodations can be made without it looking odd.
Vanderhoef/ That's one of the things that...(several talking at once).
Morris/ We've really been looking at plans, at this point. We haven't gone beyond that.
Right now we're just looking at programming issues and haven't looked at
elevation or those types of issues at this point, but (unable to hear) certainly
considering all (unable to hear).
O'Donnell! Well, you can address that too with the slope. To some degree, so...
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Council meeting of August 30, 2006.
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City Council Work Session
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Downing! Part of the problem with Station 2 is that it has a sloped, shingle-style roof on
it like a house, but then it transitions to a flat roof, and that point (unable to hear)
historic problems for that, and sloped roofs as a type (unable to hear) consists of
(unable to hear) because they used to be built as a (unable to hear), but roofs are
not (unable to hear) minimmn slope that's (unable to hear),
O'Donnell/ That would prevent standing water?
Downing! Right. So commercial roofs now appear flatter than a home (unable to hear)
are actually somewhat (unable to hear).
Vanderhoef! And a warmer so you don't have to get up and scoop it.
Elliott! Overall environmentally, how does this stack up? On a scale of one to ten, you'd
build something, one, that is not very environmentally protective; ten would be
about as good environmentally as you could... where does this fit on say one to
ten?
Morris! You know, in terms oflooking at the (unable to hear) and having to maintain
them, I would see the external materials that we're looking at, and we're looking
at changing out the windows so we'd have energy-efficient windows. We have
windows that were installed day one out there, and so in terms of having insulated
windows, we're looking at a huge change. I mean, I don't know if I can place it
in a one to ten category. We've got so many things that would make those
differences - carpet, you know - natural lighting, all of those things come into
play. (unable to hear), but definitely the plan is to look at energy c~:mservation
and sustainability in our facilities. That's the goal- to look at long-term materials
that don't require high maintenance and paint and those types of things that are a
constant cost of staff and time. So...
Correia! Are there standards with fire stations, are there different...
Morris! Definitely.
Correia! So there are...
Bailey! So, with this Option D, we're building.. .how long of a building? 50 years? Are
we getting a 50-year...
Morris/ (unable to hear) 50-year standard, which is what, when we look at the design
standards for the City of Phoenix, which is a growing, changing metropolis that
builds a station every six months, that's their standard.
Vanderhoefi' Tell me about equipment. We saw what happened in the 32 years, in the
size and complexity of the equipment and the vehicles. Ifwe were to build,
which by the way I think is the way we should go, but to build for that newer,
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City Council Work Session
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bigger vehicle, the taller vehicle, I don't know what the standards are right now
and where our equipment compares with city kind of equipment, but what strikes
me is we're starting to go up more than the five stories and what kind of
equipment can you envision that we may need in the future to accommodate ten to
fifteen story buildings?
Rocca! Well, the current apparatus, whether they're the pumpers or the ladders, are built
to the (unable to hear) standards, and that's probably what's driven the size,
height, width, and length of them are the safety standards. Whether it would be
an emergent need, you know, the equipment that it carries, the ladders and the
like, or a personal safety item, such as vehicle crash restraints, seatbeits, air bag,
rollover protection. All that is. . . closed cab. . . those are all, I guess, examples of
what would cause the fire apparatus to grow. And, I don't see those changing
much. It's easy for me to say that now, given where they've gone since the late
70's to today, they kind ofleveled off in size. There are very large aerial
apparatus when you talk about height, you know, high-rise facilities and our
ability to deal with them. The other things you have to look at, is how the
buildings are constructed, with sprinkler systems and fire alarms and rated
stairwells and corridors, and communication systems. We are seeing the high-rise
building standard take care of a lot ofbuiit-in fire protection needs. We still have
the staffing needs, we still have to get water somehow to those upper levels.
They're pretty labor-intensive situations for the Fire Department. There are
certainly higher aerial devices. I think ours is I DO-foot platform now. You could
get 135 articulating. You could get 175. You know, it's just a matter of how
much you want to spend. I think we tried to put in building codes and fire codes,
the built-in fire protection to meet the good majority of those needs. I don't
envision our apparatus getting longer. You know, like the aerial apparatus. The
next thing would probably be more of a tiller type thing, like you see driving from
the back, steering it, and that's a long piece of equipment, and I don't envision us
going to something like that in the next ten or 25 years, certainly. Jim, do you
have any other thoughts on size of apparatus?
Humston! Currently, our aerial apparatus that we have in service right now fits in one
door in one station. It fits in the middle door at Station I (unable to hear), other
than the training center, where it fits in there, but so if there's ever any kind of
problem out on Gilbert Street - road construction - for some reason Gilbert
Street's closed or whatever, that's the only place the aerial fits. So as we look at
new stations, we would like to be able to accommodate that aerial at more than
one place and one door, and even Station 2 or Station 4 would address those
issues, and I think that's important to know, too. And having the reserve
apparatus at this station would greatly enhance our ability to provide service
because right now, again, if we do a callback and those folks come to this station,
they think (unable to hear).
Elliott! And I think you really meant more that you would like to have it, so that that
aerial would fit in more than one, you really have to have it.
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City Council Work Session
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Humston! Because, you know, at one point we had to take it over to Coralville because it
just didn't fit anywhere else. We were doing some street widening and sidewalk
repairs in front of Station I. The only place we could put it back then was in
Coralville, and so that was, you know, didn't provide the service (unable to hear).
It would fit - the doors would be big enough to accommodate, and the drive-
through would accommodate the aerial at this station, as well as our plans for 4-
it would also fit.
Vanderhoef/ ... University Hospital on that west side, which you're first responder for all
of that, an aerial on this side ofthe river is...
Rocca! It's not out of the question. In fact, it used to operate that way. We had an aerial
that was... the station was built to accommodate I think a 75 foot aerial ladder,
and you know, it got into such disrepair. We maintained one. Coralville came up
with another aerial platform, and North Liberty now has one, so we at least have
three aerials in our mutual-aid association to draw from on an operational
standard, but yeah, maybe the next piece of apparatus could be a (unable to hear)
a pumper with a ladder on it, a 75-foot ladder that could do some aerial operations
with a little more flexibility, I guess, (unable to hear).
Correia! So this built on a slab, no basement? There's not a basement? Is there a reason
why. . . would a basement provide extra storage or. . .
(female)/ (unable to hear)
Downing! .. . additional expense to the project, and certainly (unable to hear) quality of
space would be a reasonable trade-offto (unable to hear).
O'Donnell/ .. .last 50 years.
Downing! Basement is typically not something seen in this type of (unable to hear).
Humston! Unless the land allowed a walkout type access, a garage at this level and a
garage at this level. We're moving heavy equipment.. .the equipment we have
(unable to hear)
Wilburn! Is this strictly informational? Do we need any or...
Atkins/ What I'd like is a nod ofthe head...we're going to start the Capital Improvement
Plan and I intended to make a recommendation that we (unable to hear). It would
be nice to begin getting started with that (unable to hear) number of months
(unable to hear) we'd like to be in the ground in the spring.
Champion! Tell me a little bit about the alternatives to the Fire Station would be while
it's being torn down and being reconstructed.
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City Council Work Session
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Rocca! Well, again, we have the ability to (unable to hear) basic housing needs, training,
and those kinds of things. That can be located on the site. Ifwe tear down, we
probably would go (unable to hear). That would be one option. Again, leaving
this facility to function as it is now with the classrooms and the continued
firefighter training. Ifthe modular building was not approved or something and
you didn't want to pursue it, we could look at remodeling this space, or making it
accommodate for dormitory space during (unable to hear) apparatus space. It is
fairly adjacent to district two and so I have a fair amount of comfort with our
ability to respond in district two, I mean, we have arterial streets that we can get
there. So, I see those as the two options - a modular building or remodeling this
to some degree to meet those operational needs day-to-day for roughly a year or
fourteen months (unable to hear).
Humston! The bathrooms here both have shower units and so it would accommodate for
them. This could become a bedroom, possibly. The other classroom over, that's
being used right now, could be their living room, kitchen, day room, office space,
and the apparatus would fit in the apparatus bay.
Champion! As long as you move, well, I mean, you wouldn't have to really move it, but
how would you move all the communication stuff?
Rocca! As far as radios and paging and all ofthat? You know, a good amount of that
would be here. It wouldn't take much to take what we have in Station 2 now, you
know, and just have it reinstalled here. So the same functionality would exist,
either here or in a modular building for that matter.
Champion! I think you should build a fire station (unable to hear).
O'Donnell! I don't know about everybody, but I support...
Champion! It's not (unable to hear).
Correia! Is it big enough? I mean, is this enough? Ifwe say this is what we need right
now today, is this what we need in five years or ten years? Do we want to
overbuild or. . .
Rocca! Keeping in mind that what you saw was designed in circa 70's and this was a Fire
Department trying to speak to some of that, you're going to (unable to hear) with
emergency medical services and hazardous materials, technical fire suppression,
and the way the standards have caused these spaces to be changed within (unable
to hear) is today's standards. We tried to look at what fire stations (unable to
hear) and maybe design the living quarters so it could be expanded if need be. I
don't know if that' s something you can speak to and how that might lend itselfto
the future.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of Angust 30, 2006.
August 30, 2006
City Council Work Session
Page 12
Downing! Sure, looking at nationwide, new fire stations built now range between 5,000
square feet to about 8,500 square feet, and this station here is a little over 5,000 as
designed, as Station 4 was in (unable to hear), and the differences there are
Station 4 would have a larger apparatus bay, where engines could be stacked two
deep, and also it's accommodating potential EMS, so there's six bedrooms
designed in Station 4, versus four here. Those are the two main reasons for the
size difference. The circulation of vehicles on the lot, this is (unable to hear).
Bailey/ So there's not room for expansion with this?
Downing! You could expand small areas. You could expand storage on this. For
instance, looking at the plan, if you went off to the lower right end, (unable to
hear) apparatus bay...but you couldn't really go far. (several talking at once)
Elliott! No, up.
Downing! (unable to hear and several talking at once)
Correia! ... training space or meeting space. I don't, I mean...
Rocca! Those were some ofthe ideas that we discussed with Fire Station 4. Sometimes a
community meeting room or (unable to hear) make it more usable to the
community...at some point, the Police will be looking at more precinct operations
and so, I mean, there are (unable to hear) additional uses and future uses.
Elliott! Andy, my. . . a concern I have is almost a year and a half with no fire safety
equipment on the west side of the river, and a sizeable hills to get up, no matter
from going east to west, sizable hills to get up. How much does that concern you?
Rocca! You know, the arterial streets are taken good care of. You know, when we have
the ice and snow and that, the bus routes are normally taken care of very quickly.
Again, we have arterial streets from this location to the west side. I think it's
doable.
Elliott! How quickly can Coralville get over there? I'm thinking, you know, the Hospital,
few dorms.
Rocca! We would beat them there just by virtue, we are with our equipment all the time.
They have to respond from wherever they're at to the station, and take the vehicle
to respond. Weare immediately available for response.
Elliott! You think that's reasonably covered?
(male)/ .. . response times, the engine from Station I downtown can beat the engine from
Station 2 to (unable to hear). You'd think it would be much closer, but in real
drive time, Station 1 will beat engine 2 there, most of the time, and...
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 30, 2006.
August 30, 2006
City Council Work Session
Page 13
Champion! (unable to hear; several talking)
Rocca! And on any structure, Bob, you know, we're going to take two engines and our
Battalion Chief, so we're sending multiple units (TAPE ENDS) .. .rotating chains
and what not to help us negotiate through extreme weather conditions as well.
Bailey! I just want to say, I'm with all of you about building new, but I agree with Amy
that we have to make sure that we have expandability, whatever that might mean,
because if we're building a 50-year building, you know, we have to accommodate
some potential growth, and if we don't grow, that's fine, but then we're not
tearing down another building in 25 years or struggling with that issue.
Champion! Would you view this as a substation? I mean, the main station's still number
1, correct? And then we're going to be building another fire station (unable to
hear), and another one. So, I mean, how big can it be to efficiently serve the area?
Bailey! Well, what I'm thinking of, if we overbuild the second story, and if it does
become a multi-use, if that could be a place where there would be Police, a
precinct, or it could have educational opportunities with a group of school
children happening there in the community, or something... .even storage, as our
programming expands, it seems like storage space will be a premium. I don't
know, but I just don't want to build a building that we can't expand upon. I just
don't think that that's good planning.
O'Donnell: But this has got the expandability. They can expand for storage and we're
picking up a full bay. I think.. .
Bailey! We can go up, I guess, is what I'm interested in. (several talking at once)
Vanderhoefj' The point is, you end up having to put an elevator in, for one thing, which is
going to be required. So, unless you have it built into the hillside, so you have
accessibility from ground level into some sort of space for community space,
which can be done.
Wilburn! Can we just... we've go the go ahead.
Elliott! Give the nod to this.
Wilburn! Could we just get some supplemental information about that expandability?
(several talking at once)
Atkins! .. .the second, we're not going to build the second. (several talking)
Bailey! I think we're interested in seeing expanded capacity.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 30, 2006.
August 30, 2006
City Council Work Session
Page 14
Atkins! All right. We promised you 5:30.
Elliott! Thank you, thank you. (TAPE ENDS)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 30, 2006.