An ongoing stalemate between a sharply divided Lompoc City Council and staff over the location, size and cost of a new fire station in the city’s northwest corner will take center stage at Tuesday’s council meeting.
The proposed 23,373-square-foot, $14.1 million fire station — with a total cost of $29.8 million when debt financing and lease payments are included — was rejected on a 3-2 vote of the council in December.
Councilmen Jim Mosby, Dirk Starbuck and Victor Vega voted against the proposal, contending the facility was too costly and designed beyond the foreseeable future fire service needs.
Mayor Bob Lingl and Councilman DeWayne Holmdahl support the project, saying the cost to replace the aging Fire Station 2, at 1100 North D St., will only increase in the future. By rejecting the proposed new station, the pair said, the council will be as guilty as past city councils by kicking the can down the road for a future council to solve.
On Tuesday, the five council members will attempt to end the impasse.
“What I’m hoping is that we come to a decision and either move forward with the current proposal or give staff clear direction,” Lingl said. “All the questions have been asked and answered, some of them multiple times.”
He added that he believes the city would be “ill-advised to go forward with a station that only fills our needs for today and doesn’t fill our needs for tomorrow.”
The dissenting council members have been equally firm that the proposed station and its long-term effect on the general fund budget is beyond the city’s ability to pay.
“I hope that we come to some conclusion that is affordable for the community and meets the needs for the future,” Mosby said.
“There seems to be a difference between what City Hall thinks we can afford and what the people of Lompoc think we can afford.”
Starbuck said he also hopes the council will reach a decision.
“I hope we can come to some kind of cohesive agreement about what we can afford … and move on with the project,” he said.
The proposed station was developed as a public-private partnership with Public Facilities Investment Corp. (PFIC), with the private company fronting all construction costs.
Beginning in 2020, after construction is completed and the station is operational, the city would begin paying annual lease payments to PFIC ranging from $658,000 to nearly $1 million per year for 27 years.
At the end of the 29-year lease period, the city would purchase the building from PFIC for $1, bringing the total cost to $29.8 million, according to an analysis prepared by city staff.
The station is planned to be constructed on land owned by the city at the Lompoc Airport, requiring the city to lease the land — at a starting payment of $54,000 a year — from the airport because the property was originally purchased with Federal Aviation Administration funds for airport use.
The five council members all agree a new fire station, long considered a top council priority, must be built to replace the aging Fire Station 2.
Almost 10 times larger than the 2,555-square-foot station it will replace, the new station would include expanded, gender-separated living quarters for uniformed fire personnel, large bays for fire engines and other vehicles, administrative offices, meeting rooms and a 50-person training room that would double as the site for the city’s Emergency Operations Center when needed.
In two subsequent council meetings since the proposal was rejected in December, council members have gone back and forth with city staff questioning details about the location, size and cost of the project, suggesting ways to reduce the overall price tag or build new construction in phases to spread out the expense.
Mosby and Starbuck, citing statistics that show 68 percent of fire service calls are emergency medical calls that require trained personnel and smaller fire vehicles, have suggested delaying new construction for offices and meeting rooms until a later date.
Fire Chief Kurt Latipow, who began developing plans for a new fire station more than three years ago, shortly after being hired, said he was tasked with preparing plans for a new station that was designed to meet the city’s future needs.
He said the proposed station would eliminate the need for a third fire station in the future as Lompoc’s population and demands for fire services grows.
“We’ve tried to put 50 years of durability into the station,” Latipow said.
“It’s more than just running emergency calls. It’s also being prepared to deal with the variable degrees of risk that the community presents. It’s being able to protect the economic vitality of the community.”
City Manager Patrick Wiemiller said because funds for a replacement station weren’t set aside in the past, the proposed project can’t be built without incurring debt.
“This proposal, at this point in time, given everything that’s happened up to now, is the cheapest solution,” he said.
“If we only partially build for our needs, we’ll end up paying more money in the process.”
The council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers at 100 Civic Center Plaza.
— Noozhawk contributing writer Carol Benham is a longtime local journalist who lives in Lompoc. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
