Grand Traverse Metro Emergency Services Authority is on the hunt for land for a new fire station in Acme Township, aiming to move forward on a years-long effort to replace the crowded, aging Station 8 with a new facility that can accommodate living and training quarters for firefighters. GT Metro is also preparing to renovate Station 11 in Garfield Township and Station 9 in East Bay Township pending approval from Acme Township trustees tonight (Tuesday) for the $700,000 project, with all three townships required to sign off as GT Metro partners.

Chief Pat Parker says GT Metro has been searching for property for at least five years to replace Station 8 in Acme Township. The current facility is “approaching 60 years old,” according to Parker, and is energy-inefficient, overcrowded, and lacking dorm, training, and workout space for firefighters. “They are living in a trailer in back of the station,” Parker says. Rebuilding or expanding on the existing site isn’t an option because Acme Township Hall shares the building, and past efforts to secure land on Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians property near Meijer and at the former Bertha Vos school have fallen through.

Financing construction for the estimated $3-$3.5 million new fire station is another challenge on top of finding property – but encouraging news on that front could help the project finally move forward. Parker says GT Metro has cleared “the first hurdle” in applying for a low-interest, fixed-rate government loan from the USDA Rural Development Loan Program for the fire station. If approved for the loan, GT Metro could spread out construction costs for the facility over 30-40 years. “You can take that expensive fire station and spread it out…where most commercial banks only go to 7-8 years and then it balloons,” says Parker. Potential approval of a USDA loan has prompted Parker to renew the search for station property in Acme in conjunction with Township Supervisor Doug White.

“We don’t need to have frontage, we don’t need to be along M-72 or US-31,” says Parker. “We can be back off the beaten path. We are looking at all the vacant properties we can.” The chief says he is hopeful GT Metro can move forward with “something concrete” for the new Acme station by early 2021.

GT Metro is also preparing to renovate two of its existing stations. Station 11, which is located on Albany Drive in Garfield Township and is GT Metro’s busiest station, is experiencing multiple failing drains and failing apparatus bay floors, with large chunks of concrete starting to break off and create trip hazards. At least two of the drains will soon be completely unusable, Parker says, in addition to risks that a firefighter will trip and be injured on the damaged floor.

The 43-year-old station was also “never built with full-time workers in mind,” according to the chief, yet the department has evolved over the years to have 24-hour staffing. “What was once crew and officer offices now house sleeping quarters that are barely large enough for a bed and a chair,” Parker says. Firefighters are required to work out at least one hour per shift, but don’t have dedicated workout space, meaning some staff are lifting weights in the same crowded room where other staff are trying to complete office or training duties – creating a “chaotic atmosphere,” according to the chief.

John Dancer of Cornerstone Architects helped GT Metro draw up renovation plans that call for replacing the entire floor at the station and include a new slope so that drainage will occur properly into new drains. At the same time, in-floor boiler heat will be installed to replace a 30-year-old overhead radiant heat system. One apparatus bay will be removed to make way for four individual crew bedrooms, while the mechanical room will be upgraded, a standalone fitness room created, and minor improvements made to two bathrooms. The changes will allow the current multi-use room to return to a dedicated training room and existing dorm space to crew offices.

Station 9 – located on High Lake Road in East Bay Township – is experiencing similar issues with its floor drains, though the condition of the floor itself is in relatively good shape compared to Station 11. GT Metro is looking to replace the floor drains at Station 9. Repairs at Station 11 are estimated at $625,000, while repairs at Station 9 are estimated at $75,000. At their September 22 meeting, GT Metro board members approved moving ahead with the project, paying for half of the $700,000 price tag in cash out of GT Metro’s public improvement fund (PIF) and financing the other $350,000 with a seven-year loan. That will allow GT Metro to pay $54,100 annually for the loan – a cost Parker says will remain within budget and not require a millage increase.

Several GT Metro board members said they believed it was important to maintain safe and comfortable living conditions for firefighters in order to keep up employee morale and be able to recruit and retain staff – a challenge facing fire departments across the country. Parker also said locking in current low interest rates and tackling both projects at the same time with the same construction firm would provide economies of scale that would keep costs down. Grand Traverse Construction, which bid on the project, has availability to start construction mid-October on Station 11 – allowing the project to be finished by late November. That timeline would ensure work could be completed before winter hits, when the fire trucks would need to be moved back indoors.

The price tag of the renovations requires not only approval from GT Metro’s board, but each of the individual township boards of Garfield, East Bay, and Acme. In order to start construction in mid-October, the three township boards had to move quickly this past week to approve the expense. Garfield Township trustees added the item to their meeting agenda last week and unanimously approved the project, while East Bay Township called a special meeting Monday. Township trustees voted 4-2 to approve the project last night after extensive discussion, with Beth Friend and Glen Lile – who both had concerns about the scope and cost of the renovations during a time of economic uncertainty – opposed. Acme Township trustees will hold a special meeting tonight to vote on the request. If they approve the project, renovations can begin next month.

Parker says the renovations will help provide for the safety and security of both stations for years to come. “Station 9 should be good for another 20-plus years, and Station 11 should be good for the next 30-40 years if we do these projects,” he told the GT Metro board.

Pictured: GT Metro (left), Cornerstone Architects rendering of Station 11 remodel (top right), Station 8 in Acme (bottom right)