The city council on Monday approved a $4.2 million price tag for construction of the new Bellaire Fire Station, clearing the way for the old station to be demolished as early as the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Karl Miller, director of Facilities Management, presented bids to the city council that came in about $225,000 under budget for construction, but then the council approved an optional drainage system that will cost an additional $128,000.
The numbers that Miller presented to the city are part of a “guaranteed maximum price.” If the actual construction costs are more they will be absorbed by Gilbane Building Company, the city’s construction manager. If the costs are less, the city will get money back.
The maximum price is just over $4.2 million, which includes about $3.9 million for base construction costs and an additional $186,000 for gear lockers, a generator system, communications wiring and a security and fire system. It also includes $128,000 for an optional storm water drainage system. The base construction cost of $3.9 million is nearly $225,000 less than the city’s original budget.
Later in the construction process, there will be additional costs for things like furniture and equipment. About $229,000 remains in the budget for those later expenditures.
On Monday the council did approve an additional cost for a storm water drainage system that goes over and above what is required in the city’s commercial building code. Mayor Cindy Siegel and Council Members Jim Avioli, Pat McLaughlan and Mandy Nathan voted to approve the additional $128,000.
Council Members Will Hickman, Peggy Faulk and Phil Nauert voted against spending the additional money. Hickman said he thought it was adequate that original plans met the commercial building code, so he wouldn’t support the optional cost. Nauert voted against it because he said “enough is enough.”
“I think at some point we have to say ‘This is the amount’,” said Nauert. “We’ve got to draw a line and say ‘That’s it guys, work within it.'”
McLaughlan was the council member who motivated city staff to recommend the optional drainage system because he said he feared the new station may cause drainage problems for neighboring residential properties. Ironically, he did vote to approve the $128,000, but then he ended up voting against the entire construction bid because he thought it was too expensive.
“Yes, we need a new fire station, but I don’t feel like we need one that’s 70 percent larger,” McLaughlan said. “This expenditure cannot be supported in these uncertain financial times.”
Although the council approved the additional drainage system, members rejected spending an additional $30,000 on aesthetically pleasing pavers for the sidewalk in front of the new station. Instead, there will be a cheaper granite fill material on the sidewalks.
Now that the bid is approved, builders aim to tear down the old fire station by the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Construction would begin soon after, and the new fire station could be complete within one year.
“We would be able to move very quickly,” Miller said.
Read more about the new fire station here.
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