Ironton’s new fire station is still under construction – just not in the traditional way.

Tuesday, March 14, 2000

Ironton’s new fire station is still under construction – just not in the traditional way.

The work is behind-the-scenes, but construction will be visible soon after bids are advertised and received.

Budget constraints mean the station house cannot go over the amount that will be covered entirely by the fire fee, which, according to architects’ estimates, is an inevitability.

But Ironton Mayor Bob Cleary told Ironton City Council Finance Committee members last week he does not believe that will happen.

"The prices they are using to estimate the construction and materials costs are based on work they have done in larger cities and metropolitan areas like Columbus," Cleary said. "I think once we start receiving bids, we will find the cost is not at all over budget now that we have made revisions to the plans."

Late last spring, Fire Fee Committee members and city officials took the fire station plans back to the drawing board after the Columbus-based architectural firm returned plans with a cost estimate that far exceeded the original $1 million target price.

In an effort to cut costs and keep the new station within the project budget, Fire Fee Committee members and city administrators began working to rearrange the station plans.

In the revisions, the city asked architects to condense the building from a two-story floor plan to a one-story floor plan.

The result is smaller rooms, fewer amenities and less grounds space between the department and the sidewalk, eliminating any landscaping possibilities or waiting room area in the entryway, Cleary said.

Although the city has applied for special grants made possible through the Empowerment Zone, a federal grant that will bring up to $100 million to Huntington, W.Va., and Ironton over the next 10 years, there is no guarantee the money will be awarded, Cleary explained.

"Grants often take a long period of time to come through, and even if we are approved for the money, we might be unable to hold up the project long enough to receive the funding," he said. "If we hear that we are going to receive the grant within the next few months, then it won’t be too late to revert back to the original two-story plans."

In the meantime, IFD officials, city administrators and Fire Fee Committee members will continue waiting for a new price from the architects.

"We are certainly hoping the grant comes through, but we must have a backup plan in place so that we are able to move forward with the project," Cleary said. "This is a building that will last another 100 years and service the entire community if it is built properly, so there is only so much you can take away. Hopefully, the grant will come through and we won’t have to consider that possibility, but we want to make sure we are prepared if that is the case."