By Jane Smith
Delray Beach city commissioners unanimously approved at their Sept. 19 meeting asking voters to approve a $100 million public safety bond.
If voters say yes on March 14, about $65 million would be used for a combined Ocean Rescue headquarters and Fire Station 112, and for renovations at three other fire stations.
The city has not provided a cost estimate for the police headquarters project involved. Given the fire rescue projects, that would leave approximately $35 million for police headquarters, unless further changes are made or grant money or other revenue is available to offset the cost of some of the projects.
The public safety bond will be on the ballot along with a separate $20 million parks bond referendum.
Fire Station 112 would move from Andrews Avenue to the Ocean Rescue location at Anchor Park, 340 S. Ocean Blvd., where officials estimate a combined facility would cost between $15 million and $16.3 million. Fire Station 112 also serves Gulf Stream.
Other fire station renovation estimates are:
• $20.2 million for the Fire Rescue headquarters at 501 W. Atlantic Ave.
• $24.4 million for Station 115 on Old Germantown Road.
• $4.6 million for Station 114 on Lake Ida Road.
Although the current police headquarters had supposedly been designed with room to grow, it was no longer adequate just four years after it was finished in 1987. A 2018 study done by CPZ Architects of Jensen Beach found the police headquarters needs three times its size of 36,655 square feet.
Regarding fire rescue services, Fire Chief Keith Tomey said at a Sept. 6 commission meeting that the city needed to plan for the split when Highland Beach takes back the fire station on the barrier island in May 2024.
That station responds to 700 calls annually on the barrier island portion in Delray Beach, Tomey said. Combining the Ocean Rescue headquarters with Fire Station 112 will allow the department to add a ladder truck there and not have to wait for one to come over from the mainland, he said.
Ocean Rescue headquarters will occupy the third floor and Fire Rescue will be on the first and second floors. Ocean Rescue also will have a bay on the first floor.
The Andrews Avenue land, about .5 acre, is valuable, Tomey told commissioners. The city can either sell it to offset the cost of the combined facility or build a small three-story parking garage and charge for beach parking.
Because the combined facilities building faces the ocean, it is eligible for a Resilient Florida Grant, Public Works director Missie Barletto said at the Sept. 6 meeting.
Tomey said the city’s fire stations were designed more than 30 years ago without plans for growth. “They were designed at a time when we had two firefighters on an engine/ladder truck and two on a rescue vehicle, now we have three,” he said.
The city also had very few women as firefighters. Now it has 31. “Why is that important? Because they share the restrooms and shower facilities,” Tomey said. They “are stuck with one restroom and one shower facility.”
WGI Inc., a construction engineering firm, was hired in the spring to create the fire rescue master plan. The firm reviewed four fire stations, along with the Ocean Rescue headquarters, for interior programming and space allocation requirements, code compliance and building structure that can handle wind speeds up to 210 mph.
At the four fire stations, WGI found failing concrete, rusting steel, missing hurricane strapping needed for trusses and studs, concrete block walls needing reinforcement to withstand higher wind speeds, and foundations needing enlargement.
One other fire station was not reviewed. Fire Station 113 on Linton Boulevard, just east of Southwest Eighth Street, is under construction with staff staying in trailers in the nearby Miller Park parking lot.
The public safety bond is estimated to cost $107 a year for 30 years for a home valued at $250,000.
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