The Town Council delayed its action on accepting a concept plan for Fire Station #2 at its Dec. 15 regular session. Councilman Dennis Brown suggested the town could do better with a plan, which led the council to ask him to sit down with the fire department and architect to see if the proposal could be refined.

Brown is a general contractor and custom home builder and has lent expertise to other projects the town has developed in recent years, most notably the Avenue of the Fountains Plaza.

“I am disappointed that we have four options here and they all look the same,” Brown said. “The look is great, but it doesn’t seem very practical.”

Brown noted that wood accents in the design are high maintenance and high ceilings are not cost effective for heating and cooling.

Fire Chief Dave Ott said the plan for the accents is a composite or metal with a wood look to enhance longevity and reduce maintenance.

Project architect Jonathan Schmid said the additional height on the main building is to help hide mechanical equipment. He also noted that the building is not as tall as it looks in renderings. Due to the topo of the site it sits higher than the section with the apparatus bays.

Ott said the fire crews have spent a lot of time working on a floor plan that works well for them, and they have put research into the design of other facilities.

“We wanted to get the right flow for this,” Ott said. “This works for us on this site.”

Councilman Alan Magazine said Brown has development and construction expertise the rest of the council does not have and he asked Brown to provide his input on the project.

Ott said he and the architects would love to sit down with him and get his input. Brown said he would make himself available.

Councilman Art Tolis said he feels it is a fantastic project, though he did ask about the equipment egress from the sight. The design provides for a curving drive back to the front of the building and out the main drive. Tolis wondered why not simply go straight out from the bays to Fountain Hills Boulevard.

Schmid explained that at that point there is about a six-foot drop from the site to street level and he believes there could be issues with trucks bottoming out.

Tolis also asked about lighting and signs along Fountain Hills Boulevard at the entry. Schmid said that is being developed as a separate plan that does include street lighting and signs.

Councilman Cecil Yates moved to table the discussion until a later date after Brown had met with architects.

Town Manager Grady Miller said he would want to have the council look at the plan again no later than the second meeting in January (19).

The vote was unanimous to continue the discussion later.

The town has been looking at the project to relocate Fire Station #2 for a number of years. The current site is on Saguaro Boulevard south of Shea Boulevard.

That location is tucked into a corner of the town and results in extended response times to the farthest points of its area.

Ott said the new site, on Fountain Hills Boulevard, just north of Shea and across from Muskrat Drive, would vastly improve response time in the area as well as better balance the call load between the two fire stations.

The current schedule calls for bid documents to be ready by February or March, with ground breaking by summer and completion by the end of the first calendar quarter of 2018.