By JOHN SHULTZ
The Kansas City Star
Aesthetically, its a big step up, more chichi downtown loft than fire house.
The high-ceiling kitchen is still spacious despite a hefty stainless steel center console. Recliners ring a fancy DLP television. Theres exposed ductwork, high ceilings and calm-colored masonry blocks instead of drywall. Individual bunkrooms have their own walls.
Fire crews first started using Fire Station 36 at 99th and Holmes streets a year ago. And even without its prominent blue roof and modern features, the station would be a landmark. Its the first new station constructed through a 15-year, $275 million sales tax approved in 2001 and, with a few caveats, a model of what Kansas City fire facilities should look like.
Four years after the city started collecting the sales tax about $110 million was earmarked to overhaul aging stations a flurry of projects is under way.
Station 36 is done. The walls and roof are up on Station 14 in the Northland. Walls are going up on Station 41 near Bannister Mall. Ground is to be broken for Station 35 on Brush Creek Boulevard. Several existing stations have been rehabbed. More rehabs are planned.
The recent activity comes after two quiet years. Department leaders said the delay gave them time to put plans together. Funds amassed during the wait are fueling the current building boom. The timeline for improvements beyond the next fiscal year is a bit hazier.
Fire Chief Smokey Dyer said the department learns each year how much sales tax money it will have and then determines its most pressing needs.
Dyer pointed to Station 41 for which a developer offered free land as a good reason not to set a hard and fast plan.
That doesnt work, he said. Because then something like 41 comes along and you have to tell somebody, Youre not going to get yours now. If you create those kinds of things in government, then you can create a political quagmire that you cannot change.
And the plan has changed since the tax took effect. Station 34 on North Brighton Avenue, with its leaking roofs, was the poster child for the decrepit state of some department facilities when the tax was up for vote. The plan called for replacing it.
But the station needed a quick fix, Dyer said, so stopgap measures were paid through the citys building maintenance budget. Now the station may not be replaced at all.
Thats up in the air, Dyer said.
Despite efforts to keep costs down, Dyer thinks voters may have to renew the tax when it expires in a decade, or we will just develop back into the same problem we had before the tax was initiated.
The need for money beyond this sales tax which also included funds to hire firefighters, buy new trucks and equipment and significantly upgrade the dispatch system was known when the city went to the voters in 2001, Dyer said.
The original plan called for about $160 million in upgrades.
We dont have any intention of scaling down because scaling down just doesnt work, he said.
Among other things the department must ensure is that all stations have appropriate facilities for women firefighters.
As to the other costs the tax was to cover, 99 of the 135 new firefighters are on the street, Dyer said. And the department has already received the first batch of 40 new pumper trucks.
Critics of the tax complained that the city would need to keep collecting the tax simply to pay for the additional firefighters.
At least some City Council members are reluctant to commit to a renewal so early.
Weve got a ways to go before we need to start making that decision, Councilman Bill Skaggs said. The sales tax (proceeds) may increase it may not be necessary 10 years from now.
Fire projects
Completed renovations:
Station 28, 930 Red Bridge Road, $1 million
Station 43, 12900 E. Missouri 350, $1.02 million
Station 45, 500 E. 131st St., $1.02 million
Rehabs in progress:
Station 16, 9205 NW 112th St., $2.6 million
Station 23, 4777 Independence Ave., $4.2 million
Station 29, 1414 E 63rd St., $2.5 million
New station completed:
Station 36, 99th and Holmes streets, $4.7 million
New stations under way:
Station 14, Missouri 152 and North Brighton Avenue, $5.5 million
Station 19, 43rd Street and Bridger Road, $6.5 million
Station 35, in the 3100 block of Brush Creek Boulevard, $6.6 million
Station 41, just east of Bannister Mall, $4.3 million
An additional $1 million was spent on the Burn Building at the Fire Training Academy at 5130 Deramus Ave.
First glance
About $110 million in revenue from a sales tax approved in 2001 was earmarked to overhaul aging stations.