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Lansing Fire Commissioners voted Tuesday to solicit bids to demolish the Village of Lansing fire station.  District officials have long considered replacing the facility, at first because it is too small for modern emergency equipment, and now because the building has been determined to have deteriorated to the point where it is considered unsafe.  That has accelerated a plan to raze the current building and replace it on the same property at 119 Oakcrest Road.

"We are trying to work with the Village so it fits into the area down there," says Fire Commissioner Jeff Walters.  "Instead of having the big double doors we're going to go with single doors and go with earth tone colors like they have at the malls so it doesn't look commercial on that road.  We know we want to go with a peak roof.  A flat roof would look more commercial."

Well over 50% of Lansing's 911 calls come from the Village with the malls and its many apartment complexes, but the station there has been inadequate for years.  District officials planned a new station in 2005 that would allow large fire equipment to drive into fire station bays from the back so they would be pointing forward to be ready to respond to emergencies in a similar configuration to Central Station in the Town.

At that time Village officials did not want a new fire station on Oakcrest Road, which they hoped to turn into a strictly residential area.  They tentatively offered a spot on the Village campus, which they expected to increase in usable space with the demolition of an old water tank behind the Village office building.  But Village and fire officials never did agree on a location, and Fire Commissioners killed the project in 2008 because estimates of nearly $4 million were twice as much as they had anticipated.

Last month Walters presented a report from a building consultant who detailed deterioration so severe that it was not considered worth repairing.  A more financially modest plan calls for a four bay Morton building set back 12 feet from Oakcrest Road to allow emergency equipment more space to back into the equipment bays.  The current fire station has two bays, so the new building will double the capacity, offering sizable bays that modern fire trucks will fit into.


Commissioners noted that emergency calls from the Village will be served from Central Station, which has been the base of most Village calls anyway.  They added that increased intermunicipal response from Cayuga Heights may be requested while the new fire station is being constructed.

Work on the new station comes on the heels of a 7,300 square foot addition to Central Fire Station.  The project includes 300 square foot, one story plan that will add an additional equipment bay so that emergency vehicles won't have to be shuffled to get them on the road in emergencies, a decontamination room, emergency medical storage, and space for up to eight live-in firefighters (boarders).  Voters approved the project in September, 2009 99-69.  The $2.3 million project is the first major construction done on the station since it was built 30 years ago.

Walters reported on progress at Tuesday's meeting.  He said contractors have primed the sheetrock outside the bay area.  Concrete pads were to be poured yesterday, and sprinkler installation Wednesday.  Epoxy painting is scheduled next Monday.  Next Thursday the ceiling grid will be started.  Once that is complete tiles will be installed.

All work should be completed by the second week of December.  Officials say they will look for boarders after New Year, once they know the new quarters are completely finished.

That project is being paid for with captal reserve monies at no additional cost to taxpayers.  District treasurer George Gesslein says the District will be in good shape when the new project is ready as well.

"We'll have a little over a million in our building reserve at that time to address the issue," he says.

Commissioners passed a $1,395,242 2012 budget Tuesday, which they say will bring the fire district tax rate down two cents from 98 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value to 96 cents.

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