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Grant May Shore Up City Fire Station

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By LAURA KINSLER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 5, 2008

ZEPHYRHILLS - After pulling the plug on building a new fire station, city administrators are racing to apply for a state grant that would allow firefighters to move back into the downtown station.

The city is seeking $750,000 from the Florida Department of Community Affairs to improve a drainage pond near the building, which has been out of service since it flooded in January. The city would be required to put up $250,000 in matching funds.

City Manager Steve Spina said the match would come out of the city's reserve fund.

"We have another $200,000 available in our fire impact fees to pay for the remodeling," Spina said.

Spina said he will ask the city council Wednesday to approve hiring a consultant to submit the Community Development Block Grant application by the Sept. 29 deadline.

The pond between Sixth and Seventh streets could not handle the 6 inches of rain that fell during the January storm, and firefighters didn't have time take their usual precautions, such as building a sandbag barrier around the station. The storm also flooded the basement at city hall, across the street.
Fire Chief Keith Williams has grudgingly endorsed the grant application.

"It certainly has merit," he said. "It's obvious we have a pressing need. I've got a station that's been out of service since Jan. 23, but it's a stopgap measure."

Firefighters have been living and working out of the World War II Barracks Museum at the municipal airport since the flood.

Before they can move back into the Sixth Street station, the building needs new drywall, flooring and cabinetry. The department also needs to repair the leaking roof, the chief said.

"It's a little bit like putting a Band-Aid on an arterial bleed," Williams said. "Just to do the bare minimum would cost about $30,000."

The chief had hoped for a more permanent solution. He wanted to build a two-story, 10,400-square-foot station on Seventh Street, between Third and Fourth avenues. A new station would have cost the city $1.7 million, plus the cost of land.

But a $400,000 budget shortfall forced the council to cut the project.

"We will build a new station, eventually," Mayor Cliff McDuffie said.

The Sixth Avenue station was the city's first and only until the Dairy Road fire station was built in 2000.

It is smaller than the Dairy Road facility and lacking in many areas. Firefighters have nicknamed it "the outhouse."

"The building is almost 50 years old, and it's been renovated countless times," Williams said.

Even with the improvements, the station won't meet current building codes.

It will not have a sprinkler system and wouldn't stand up to hurricane-force winds.

Spina said state officials would make a site visit in the fall. The grant awards should be announced in January.

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 865-4844 or lkinsler@tampatrib.com.

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