After several attempts, the Cicero Fire Department will finally be getting a new station.
The department started demolition last week on a vacant house and garage on property it owns at 8387 to 8391 Brewerton Road. Next they’ll begin clearing trees in preparation to break ground on construction for a new Station No. 1, which is expected to take place some time next week.
“The official start date is hopefully the first week in August, and we have been provided a tentative move-in date of late February or early March,” said Jon Barrett, president of the Cicero Fire District’s Board of Fire Commissioners.
The new station will be right next door to the existing Station No. 1, which stands at 8377 Brewerton Road. Barrett said the building committee looked at several locations along the Route 11 corridor, from areas near Walmart to the old Plainville restaurant, but believed it was best to stay close to the current station.
“We felt this was the best location as a result of the size of the property, cost and a majority of our alarms in the Station No. 1 response area,” he said.
The build was approved by taxpayers in the Cicero Fire District back in November by a vote of 80-32. The referendum allowed the district to sell the 4.5-acre lot at 8387 to 8391 Brewerton Road to the department to make way for the building, allowing the department to tear down the existing station and construct a $4 million building to replace it. The fire district will then lease the building back from the department.
Voters rejected a $5.6 million building proposal last February, which would have increased fire district taxes about $75 per year for a home assessed at $100,000. In August, a proposal to sell the 4.5-acre lot was defeated as well.
Fire department officials said the new structure is necessary because of significant structural issues in the existing building, as well as asbestos on the second floor and numerous safety concerns for the volunteer firefighters in the department.
Barrett said the new building will take care of all of those safety concerns.
“The new building will be much different and address several of the safety concerns we have with the old building for our members,” Barrett said. “They will not have to get dressed standing next to or behind the apparatus. [They don’t have to] worry about stopping traffic in the middle of Route 11 to back in. [It’s] more energy efficient and [it] provides the necessary rooms to house in-house crews.”
The new building also comes without a tax increase for fire district residents. At just over 17,000 square feet, instead of the 20,000 the original plans called for, Barrett said it includes the department’s “actual needs versus the Christmas list we could operate without.” It will have a community hall, which members of the Cicero community called for during informational forums, as well as a kitchen, offices, training room, exercise room, gear room and five apparatus bays.
Also helping to keep costs down was a grant from Assemblyman Al Stirpe’s office in the amount of $125,000. That money, in addition to a grant of between $200,000 and $300,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) — the department will be advised of the exact amount during the next round of awards in August — helped to offset the costs the board of commissioners had budgeted for.
“We have recently been awarded a grant from Stirpe’s office which will help in building the station,” said Commissioner Jim Perrin. “The district had some money in the budget coming available because of equipment and expenses being paid off and costs decreasing. So we looked at what we could afford to pay in the current budget without a tax increase. After looking at many different options, we could finance a $4 million station without a tax increase to the fire district. Our attorney worked with architect and builder to what could be cut to bring the cost down. We have brought the cost of the project down to $4 million. There will be no tax increase to the taxpayers for the new station project. The district was able to free money up in their upcoming budgets to cover the annual payment.”
To stay up to date on the progress of the construction, visit the department’s website at blogs.cicerofd.org/cfd/live-feed-construction-site. The department plans to host a cookout celebration once they break ground; check their website and Facebook page for more information.
