Inside the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District 2016 Operational Plan lies one sentence that Lafayette residents have been waiting to read for nearly four years: the district will propose to its board that "we open a newly rebuilt Fire Station 16 in January 2017."
The county closed the uninhabitable Lafayette fire station in 2012, and as the proposed station 46 joint venture between ConFire and the Moraga-Orinda Fire District dragged on, ConFire opted to rebuild its own station for $1 million rather than spend three times the money to erect a shared station at the Lafayette-Orinda border.
A structural engineer delivered the district a positive report on the condition of the building, and ConFire awaits the results of a geothermal test on the soil beneath the floor slab. The report should be completed by mid-March. "The slab has settled, probably as a result of soil loss under it, and will most likely require us to mitigate surface runoff from the street," said fire chief Jeff Carman.
Concurrently, the district will select an architect, and should then be ready to draw documents and put out bids for the station construction. Once all of the documents are prepared, the district will secure a rough price estimate and be then able to go to its board for project approval.
"We are still feeling good about our original direction that we can use the existing foundation and rebuild the station," said the chief. "With anything like this, we are prepared for the unexpected and think we can react to whatever is thrown our way. Worst case scenario is we will have to rebuild the entire structure, which I think we are even prepared for should that happen."
The county closed the uninhabitable Lafayette fire station in 2012, and as the proposed station 46 joint venture between ConFire and the Moraga-Orinda Fire District dragged on, ConFire opted to rebuild its own station for $1 million rather than spend three times the money to erect a shared station at the Lafayette-Orinda border.
A structural engineer delivered the district a positive report on the condition of the building, and ConFire awaits the results of a geothermal test on the soil beneath the floor slab. The report should be completed by mid-March. "The slab has settled, probably as a result of soil loss under it, and will most likely require us to mitigate surface runoff from the street," said fire chief Jeff Carman.
Concurrently, the district will select an architect, and should then be ready to draw documents and put out bids for the station construction. Once all of the documents are prepared, the district will secure a rough price estimate and be then able to go to its board for project approval.
"We are still feeling good about our original direction that we can use the existing foundation and rebuild the station," said the chief. "With anything like this, we are prepared for the unexpected and think we can react to whatever is thrown our way. Worst case scenario is we will have to rebuild the entire structure, which I think we are even prepared for should that happen."
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA