NEW Fire / Police Station Update 2021

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

NUMBER OF NEW HOMES

17) With the additional homes being built by the developer (roughly 120) would the post office need to be enlarged to accommodate the new citizens of Gearhart?  And would there be a financial impact to the taxpayers aside from the bond for the new fire station for adding the 120 homes to our city? The exact number of new homes is not known at this time but the estimate is for 55, not 120. The total Highlands property is 30 some-odd acres. 5 acres would be transferred to the City for a fire / police station and a park. Much of the remaining acreage cannot be built upon. 120 homes would not be possible.

USE OF OLD SITE

16) What is the plan or usage of the old site once the fire station is relocated? Are you selling the land where the fire department is located now? Our goal is to move our essential services (police & fire) to high ground outside of the tsunami inundation zone. Liberating the former police station space in City Hall will allow consolidation of the building department which has rented a trailer for some time. The City will realize some cost savings there.

As for the current fire station site, it will not be available for sale or re-purposing for at least several years. Nothing has been decided yet. One hurdle at a time! But there are a number of exciting possibilities.

NEW SITE RESPONSE TIME - COTTAGE FIRE EXAMPLE

15) On the night of October 8th, 2021, a chimney fire occurred on North Cottage. The fire was fully extinguished without spreading to neighboring homes and trees by the time Seaside Mutual Aid was on scene because of the quick response and mobilization of the GVFD. How much longer would the response time have been from the proposed fire station on Highland Road? If all things about the volunteer response were equal, the distance from the new location would have caused the volunteers to be 60 seconds later than the current location. But the response time really has to do with where the volunteers live. [Years ago], many of the volunteers lived West of highway 101. These days due to housing prices and a lack of rental homes, volunteers live east of and along Highway 101.

Younger people and families struggle to find homes in the central part of Gearhart.

If [you’re reading this and] you wouldn't mind, pass around to your friends and acquaintances that the fire department would appreciate to know if housing rentals come available anywhere in or near Gearhart.

NEXT TOWN HALL

14) Will the City hold another Town Hall to discuss the fire / police station location and bond costs like they did back in 2019? In lieu of a town hall, multiple “Coffee with the Mayor” and “Fire Station Open House” events have taken place over the last few months.

NEW PARK MAINTENANCE

13) If a new park is to be included, what is the impact on the City maintenance budget? How big might this park be and what would be in it? The park will be approximately 2.5 acres or 108,000 square feet.  Currently, we don't have any plan for the park other than an open grassy area that would need mowing.   We are now in the planning process of our parks, and the development and maintenance costs will be a part of any future improvement.  Also, any changes to a park require a conditional use permit which triggers public hearings. The community will be involved.

NO TO NEIGHBORHOOD ACCESS

12) Will they want to make Summit a through street? Do the homeowners there have a say in how that might work? No, there are no plans to make Summit a through street, and we don't see any reason to do so.  The neighborhood streets on either side of the gap are not designed for a traffic increase. We're also not considering a connection from the new fire site to Pine Ridge Drive either.  That neighborhood does not have adequate roadways, and the traffic from the other neighborhoods and the Del Rey beach access would be detrimental to the community.

TRAFFIC SIGNAL NOT NEEDED

11) Will there be a light to access the highway and has ODOT agreed to this and at whose expense? Not at this time, but we are considering it. Traffic lights are costly, including fire signal lights.  The fire department uses driving techniques to approach and access highway 101 that has never caused an accident.  To access HWY 101 from Pacific Way, we frequently pull through the intersection while a red light is in our path while the traffic on 101 has a green light.  The Highway 101 and Pacific Way intersection is also dangerous as the Hwy traffic with the green light does not readily stop. The fire department trains for this scenario and has never caused an accident while responding to emergencies.  

AVAILABLE GRANT MONIES

10) Is there any state or federal funding going into this. If so, what will be the impact on location, size, etc.? Will they need a more detailed plan/budget before approving any funds? We've been exploring all sorts of grants for the Fire/Police Station project.  Funds to build a structure are extremely hard to come by as the cost of critical infrastructure buildings is high. We're continually searching for grants and are in touch with our state and federal representatives as well as DOGAMI and the Coastal Shores Specialist of the Oregon Department Of State Lands (DLCD).  

The budget for the project has been produced by two different architects, two professional estimation companies, and various builders.  A complete design of the facility would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it is not necessary to estimate the project costs.  We have added generous contingencies that include the rise in future materials and labor costs, potential seismic work for the foundation, and accesses.  Most infrastructure projects in smaller communities have been done in such a manner, and we plan to come in under budget.  

Another issue is that these grant entities want to see public support for the project, and they won't be so keen on granting money to a divided community.  The misinformation being spread on various local Facebook pages is far from helpful.

STATION COST ESTIMATE

9) In regards to the new Station pricing provided at the August 13, 2021 Special City Council meeting, how did the City arrive at these figures? Aren’t there supposed to be multiple bids?  The pricing provided to Council was preliminary and therefore City staff acquired cost consultants to provide the numbers. The City has not “gone out to bid” yet. Preliminary estimates are necessary to determine the bond amount needed, which is why cost consultants are an important part of the process.

STATION NAME CHANGE

8) When looking at High Point, the term used was an "Emergency Response and Resiliency Station.” Why now is it "Fire/Police Station"?  Whether the station is built at the High Point location on Marion Ave or on the dune at The Cottages, it will be an emergency response and resiliency station. It will house the emergency response departments (fire and police) and will be placed in a location expected to survive 95% of probable tsunami events. A change in terminology was to avoid confusion between the two sites and confirm who will occupy the station.

The site will be available to serve as an emergency response center for the City and serve as an incident command center. Resiliency refers to the time it takes for a city to resume normal operations after a major event. Having an emergency center at a higher elevation will aid in the city's resiliency.

NEW SITE SPECIFIC ACREAGE

7) The tax lot owned by The Cottages LLC is over 30 acres in size. How did the owners/developers and the City come to an agreement on which 2-acre section would house the proposed fire/police station?  The proposed boundary marks the highest dune on the tax lot. It is both the safest and sturdiest spot to put the station.

ZONING OF PROPOSED SUBDIVISION

6) Some have expressed concern over the City creating "high-density housing" should the Cottages Subdivision be included within the City of Gearhart. Why would the City want to ruin Gearhart's low-density residential character?  Should this proposal come about, the zoning would be R-1 and 10,000 square foot minimum lot size, the exact same zoning as the existing residential areas in Gearhart.  If people like Gearhart's existing housing density, they should like the new proposed addition. This location will be built upon anyway. We now have an opportunity to secure high ground and a park.

RESPONSE TIME

5) A few are saying the response times from the Highland location make it unacceptable.

First of all, we must acknowledge that there are no perfect sites.  Every option has pros and cons. The "trade-offs" must be weighted and evaluated. Some of those considerations include:

• Cost of Land
• Distance from statistical fire and medical responses
• Proximity to our volunteer base (many of our firefighters live east of Hwy 101)
• The resilience of the site from earthquake and tsunami 

While the favored High Point site ranked high in several of these criteria, the City faced millions of additional dollars to purchase the land from the current owners. The new Highlands site would be deeded to the City in exchange for bringing the subdivision into the city limits for minimal costs. The proposed site is closer to where many of our volunteers live, shortening one factor in response time and lengthening another.  Many of the GVFD's calls are on Hwy 101, which would be accessed via direct access to Hwy 101 and also Highlands Lane. Ironically, some who currently express reservations about the Highlands site due to response time to downtown Gearhart have recently promoted moving our fire station to the existing Hertig Substation 2 miles further north on Hwy 101.

NEW SITE NOT AVAILABLE 5 YEARS AGO

4) The Highlands site was looked at several years ago and was rejected. Why is it OK now when it was not OK then? The land owners of the property being considered only recently came available.  When the Highlands site (owned by another family at the time) was considered by the Gearhart Fire Citizen Committee several years ago, the land was known to be in unincorporated Clatsop County. The feeling was that our fire station should be located within the actual City of Gearhart. If we successfully adjust our Urban Growth Boundary, the property may become part of the City of Gearhart.  

MERGING LOCAL DEPARTMENTS

3) Why doesn't Gearhart just merge with Seaside's fire department to save money? The two fire departments already have mutual aid agreements and work very closely with one another. The City of Seaside's fire station is about 20 feet above sea level and would be flooded in virtually any tsunami scenario. It was also not built to current earthquake safety standards and could have a catastrophic structural failure in a major earthquake. Reliance upon a single station could result in greater loss of life and a tax increase.

If we tried to merge the four local districts, we would need to have four separate measures on the ballot, and all would need to pass. This would include the Gearhart Rural Fire Protection District, City of Gearhart, City of Seaside, and the Seaside Rural Fire Protection District. All of these organizations rely heavily on volunteers. It is critical to have firefighting equipment a reasonable distance from the staff, and volunteers to facilitate a quick response to fire and medical calls of all types. It would not solve the problem of getting our fire-fighting equipment out of the tsunami zone.

Merging into one large fire district would not lessen the amount of equipment and personnel needed to protect our communities.

STATION SIZE EXPLAINED

2) We keep hearing that the proposed police/fire station is "excessively large and an unneeded Taj Mahal" and that the current fire station could be fixed up for far less money than a new one.  How does the City respond to this?

• The current fire station was built in 1958 and at 4,500 square feet was adequate for the time. 
• The original structure was not built with Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes/tsunamis in mind. It is not practical to retrofit and makes no fiscal sense to spend $9-10 million on a facility subject to inundation. 
• Today's fire-fighting profession has changed. In 1958, our volunteers were all male and were responsible for putting out fires. Today, many of them are women, and the job for both men and women entails more than fighting fires.
• Our firefighters are certified EMTs, and they respond to medical emergencies, automobile accidents, water rescues, hazardous waste situations, and more.  
• Current standards require a separate area for decontamination for pathogens and hazardous materials.  Currently, the first responders clean exposed equipment in the kitchen!
• These additional responsibilities require additional pieces of equipment which require adequate storage. Some of our equipment is stored in cargo shipping containers, which is both unattractive and inconvenient for our volunteer responders.
• The new station will have restrooms, showers, and dressing rooms for women and men. Currently, there is only one toilet.
• Our first responders are required to receive ongoing training for medical, structural, and wildland firefighting certifications.  The current training room is approximately 288 square feet and is too small to accommodate our volunteers.
• Many paid and volunteer fire departments provide sleeping quarters to maintain on-duty staffing 24/7. Our current station has none. An intern program that includes living space would benefit the public by shortening response times.
• Right now, the offices for the Gearhart Police Department are located in City Hall. It makes sense to co-locate first responders in a more resilient location.  
• By liberating the offices currently in the City Hall used by the police and fire departments, the City could improve the council/planning commission meeting space and consolidate the building department eliminating the rent paid for the portable office they use.

NEW SITE STABILITY

1) We've read on social media that the proposed Highlands Cottages site is not geologically stable and should be rejected for a new fire/police station. What is the City's response?  The City has performed its due diligence conducted by geological and structural engineers.  An engineering firm studied the dune conducting a subsurface investigation, site reconnaissance, and laboratory testing and is satisfied that the site is stable secondary to its height, age, and location. The City has more faith in these professionals than those who are expressing their own personal opinions.