Trying to put on a pair of pants meant for someone ten sizes smaller can be a trying task.
For years, the Springfield Township Fire Department was asked to do a similar task with their fire engines in Fire Station #2 at Davisburg Road and Dixie Highway.
In response to calls for more space, the Springfield Township Board approved a budget plan on June 9 to explore designs in a renovation project to expand the station.
The board signed off on an architectural plan not to exceed $23,500 and site plan not to exceed $7,000 with Design Resources of Clarkston. Springfield Township Clerk Nancy Strole explained this decision simply authorized the consultants to develop the site plan, not to start building.
The plan concept, according to a memo sent from Township Board Supervisor Collin Walls to the Springfield Township Board on June 3, calls for approximately 4,900 additional square feet. Of this total, 1,100-square- feet is office space, 1,100-square-feet is for a basement to accommodate electrical panel and some storage. An additional 3,200-square-feet are left open for storage.
Strole explained that the 4,900-square-foot plan was a generality and not the final plan which needs to be tweaked and approved by the planning commission first.
Design Resources estimates the total cost to be $750,000 to $800,000, which includes site work. The current plan is down from an 8,300-square-foot, $1.8 million concept originally proposed.
‘That (the original plan) would have required additional funding. We think if we’re awful careful we can achieve the critical needs of the fire department with existing funds,? said Strole.
Strole added that renovating the substation is a top priority for the board because of the need to accommodate changing equipment and trucks.
Springfield Township Fire Chief Charlie Oaks discussed the need for the expansion, ‘We have absolutely no storage space. You see laundry in the office. You can’t walk by someone without two or three people getting in the way.?
Oaks also explained how both fire stations are outdated with bays built for the smaller trucks of the past.
‘That hall will get most of the calls and will be covering the part of the township growing the most. I never expect that we’d have to build again. If the township gets that big, you’d have to build an entire new station anyway,? said Oaks.