After one last environmental report is completed, city officials
plan to start the bidding process for the construction of
Hollister’s long-awaited second fire station.
Fire Chief Bill Garringer said the city hoped bids for the $3.5
million, 8,000-square foot project go out by May so construction
could begin in July and be completed by May 2004.
After one last environmental report is completed, city officials plan to start the bidding process for the construction of Hollister’s long-awaited second fire station.
Fire Chief Bill Garringer said the city hoped bids for the $3.5 million, 8,000-square foot project go out by May so construction could begin in July and be completed by May 2004.
“I’m excited,” Garringer said. “The firefighters here have been talking about a second station for at least 12 years. I’m the lucky chief that gets the opportunity to see it started.”
Officials have expressed concern about the project’s fruition since a May 2002 sewer spill and the ensuing penalties handed down by the state – which included a halt on the issuance of building permits. Installation of new sewer connections, including those for a new fire station, have been disallowed within city limits, according to the cease-and-desist order from the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
“It prevents any additional flows to the collection system (sewer plant), said Matthew Keeling, a civil engineer for the RWQCB.
However, city officials have moved forward with Fire Station 2 – to be located at 1200 Union Road – and are considering several alternatives once the station is built. Preferably, according to officials, the city would receive an exemption from the RWQCB to install sewer connections because of the project’s importance to communitywide safety.
“That’s possible. That’s definitely possible,” Community Development Director Bill Card said. “We’ve been working on it.”
That outcome is not likely, though, unless city officials can prove the new connections do not render additional flows into the wastewater treatment plant.
The mandate from the RWQCB clearly states that “institutional construction” – which includes a fire station – must be addressed using the guidelines of the cease and desist order, according to Keeling.
“It’s kind of left up to our board’s discretion as to whether they will allow it,” Keeling said.
Garringer said, “By then, if we’ve met our deadlines, I’m hoping they’ll reconsider.”
If that option fails, officials have said they will consider using a septic tank or a holding tank, preferably the latter.
“Septic is not a good thing,” Card said. “It pollutes the groundwater.”
The city would need clearance from the California Department of Health to use a holding tank, which would require “trucking” sewage to an outside municipality’s treatment plant.
Garringer said the city desperately needs another fire station to more adequately and promptly service residents throughout Hollister.
The current and only fire station is located downtown at Fifth and Sally streets. It will soon undergo about $50,000 in renovations to improve the kitchen, bathroom and locker room.
Currently, response times to some areas of Hollister can reach as high as eight or nine minutes. Garringer said he would like to reduce response times to four or five minutes. The new station, and its strategic location, would largely affect “roughly 50 percent” of the people, he said.
“We’re looking at lives, not a luxury,” City Councilwoman Pauline Valdivia said.
The city has already hired six of the nine firefighters that will work out of Fire Station 2, Garringer said. Additionally, the city has purchased a new engine for the facility at a cost of $354,000.
Fire Station 2 will be the second major project in Hollister to undergo construction without a permit for sewer connections. San Benito High School began construction of the projected $21.5 million freshman campus in October. It is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2004.
When the appropriate time comes, and if officials make the petitions, the RWQCB will decide whether either of those projects will be exempt from the cease and desist order.
“All I can say is they’ve been moving forward with the requirements of the ACL issued against them,” Keeling said.
Regardless, as long as the new fire station opens one year from now, Garringer said, “I’ll be really happy the day of the opening ceremony party.”
