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Zephyrhills Fire Chief Seeks New Station

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 13, 2008

ZEPHYRHILLS - There's a little-known saying among fire chiefs: Two of the biggest challenges of the job are having to close a fire station or build one.

Chief Keith Williams has kept that in mind as he has made his pitch to city council members for a new firehouse; it would replace the flood-prone, half-century-old station on Sixth Avenue.

Williams came forward this week with a proposal to build a two-story, 10,400-square-foot station along Seventh Street, between Third and Fourth avenues, in the heart of downtown.

His proposal, unveiled at Monday night's city council meeting, involves the purchase of 1 acre - three parcels of undeveloped land - at a cost of $240,000.

"There's never a good time for a city to spend this kind of money," Williams said. "But if we want to continue to provide coverage for the entire community, we need to do it."

He said the move would maintain coverage in the city's downtown business district and provide space to house trucks, equipment and personnel.

His proposal, as it stands, is anything but a done deal.

City council members, mindful of fiscal constraints as they enter the budget season, want the property assessed before signing off on the purchase. Some have criticized the initial design of the fire station, arguing that it's grandiose.

More importantly, they need to figure out where the money will come from.

Councilman Luis Lopez wants to see the city move ahead with the plans.

"We've been talking about this for too long," he said. "We need to get going on it."

For years, city officials have debated what to do with the aging firehouse.

The station flooded in January during a rainstorm. Since then, firefighters have been working out of the World War II Barracks Museum at the municipal airport.

The conditions were so bad in the old station that firefighters dubbed it the outhouse.

While officials work on the design, location and financing of the new station, firefighters will move into the Aero Center, a large hangar at the airport, for about $800 a month.

Building a fire station would cost the city an estimated $1.7 million, City Manager Steve Spina said, compared with more than $200,000 to renovate the existing station.

He said the city is working with Sen. Bill Nelson on federal funding to build the firehouse and has applied for a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan as a backup financing plan.

The city also has about $98,000 in fire-safety impact fees in the bank and $500,000 in reserve funds collected from the Penny for Pasco fund for the project, Spina said.

The need for a new firehouse comes at a time when the city is struggling to plug budget shortfalls caused by a loss of property tax revenue and depreciating housing values.

Preliminary estimates indicate the city could lose more than $460,000 next fiscal year as a result of Amendment 1, the tax-relief measure voters approved in January.

Williams asked the council in February to consider purchasing a vacant office building near the Dairy Road headquarters and converting it to administrative fire offices.

Council members nixed that idea, however, citing a lack of funding.

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (727) 815-1082 or cwade@tampatrib.com.

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