Sometimes what you want and want you can afford are not the same thing.
Officials in Addison Township learned this lesson when going over plans for the new fire hall to be stationed just inside the Village of Leonard on Rochester Rd.
After creating a needs assessment and a “wish list,” officials had architects draw up a preliminary design geared towards 10-12,000 square feet for around $100 a square foot. However, designers told them this just wasn’t possible.
“The design came back at 13,968 square feet,” said Fire Chief George Spencer. “I believe it cost around $110 a square foot which gave us a $1.6 million total.”
The township board only approved around $1 million for the station, so major cutbacks needed to be made. Also, designers were now working with a build site that was not as “build ready” as everyone thought.
“The site wasn’t as dry as we had hoped it would be,” said Spencer. “It will cost a few extra dollars to get it ready to build on.”
In the end, the township board approved $1.36 million for a 12,660 square foot structure. The cost broke down to $107.42 per square foot, including the extra funding needed for site preparation.
Multiple changes were made, but the largest was in the overall design of the building. According to Chief Spencer, the designers eliminated a community wing that included a kitchenette, bathrooms, conference space and training room. On the operational side of the building, the department’s conference room was eliminated and expanded to be a training room.
“They did not really touch the bay area,” explained Spencer, “but they did reshape the building slightly there to make construction simpler.”
“The real functional part of the building that effects day to day operations were not effected.”
Several other changes in the design included:
n Utilize the material in the northeast portion of the site as structural fill to reduce the amount of imported fill required to reach the engineered grades.
n Move the entire building footprint closer to Forest Road to reduce the amount of concrete paving for the exit apparatus pad.
n Increase the production criteria for the well. Maintain a single well design for both maintaining the pond and providing domestic water service.
n Eliminate all plantings in the landscaping scope of work.
n Have the previous property owner remove the trailers and allow the on-site burning of the debris from the existing shed.
n Move the drain field from the north side of the site to the south and construct an elevated field.
n Install 12-inch wide trench footings in lieu of 18-inch trench footings.
n Install painted, split face, decorative block instead of cultured stone to accent the building.
n Use a 24-inch trapezoidal standing seam roof panel in lieu of a 16-inch flat, straight rib standing scam roof panel.
n Raise the finished floor elevation of the apparatus bay and eliminate the exterior trench drain. The drain was proposed to prevent surface storm water from entering the bay.
n Reduce the size of the operable, arched windows.
n Place all of the equipment in the Fire Department’s move budget rather than treating it as a construction cost.
n Eliminate all of the flagpoles.
n Utilize a radiant tube system rather than the Cambridge pressurization system.
n Reduce the number of bays supported by the Nederman exhaust extraction system.
n Change the paving material from concrete to asphalt in the apparatus bay entrance.
n Find a local source of sand other than a gravel pit to fill the site and construct the engineered drain field.
“It will still be a functional and appropriate building for our services,” concluded Spencer. “(The firefighters and staff) will not longer be getting by with just what they got anymore.”
Funding for the new firehall is coming from current funds that have been put aside and saved over the years. To date, the department has $600,000 to go towards the new facility, and the township has approved taking out a loan up to $850,000 to cover the left over cost.
The recently approved millage increase was for personnel and operational funding only, not for the new firehall.
“We are planning on staffing the new hall 24-7, and that is going to improve our response time even more” explained Spencer. “There has been no increase in the capitol millage for this.”
The department may have to come back and ask for an increase to assist with the higher costs and utilities associated with running the new hall, but nothing has yet to be determined. “After all this, we’re still looking at a facility that will meet our needs and last for years to come,” said Spencer. “And I’m talking about decades and generations, not just a few.”