Cost rises as future fire station gets more space

Developer deeds additional acreage

Additional land deeded to Boerne by a developer means Boerne Fire Station No. 2 will have a bigger footprint and include more training components, but the cost is going up, officials said this past week.

The City Council April 28 approved expanding the building by 6,895 square feet, to 22,000 square feet, at a design cost of more than $2.2 million— a $847,500 increase from the initial projection of nearly $1.4 million.

In addition to expanded training features including roof-access and a tower, the larger building will include additional museum space and library functionality, city officials noted.

The site is expanding from 3.3 acres to a 6.6-acre site.

During the Tuesday meeting, Assistant Fire Chief Walter Ball spelled out the “pivot points” in the design changes and accompanying costs for council members.

“This gives us a cleaner and safer traffic flow in and out of the station.”

— Assistant Fire Chief Walter Ball

Originally, the site topography was going “to require a partial belowgrade construction, which was going to lead to quite a bit of excavation challenges,” Ball said.

However, the 3.3 additional acres — deeded by the developer of Esperanza, the neighboring housing development — allows the building to be moved within the expanded 6.6 acres “to a flatter portion of the property ... that resulted in a fully at-grade single-story facility,” Ball said.

The $2.216 million is the design service fee going to architect Hoefer Welker LLC.

Meanwhile, the cost to build the three-bay facility is currently estimated at $22,573,414.

Ball said the department expects to go out for bids late this summer, with construction to start later this fall.

Relocating the station on the expanded 6.6-acre site aligns it with the nearby intersection of Esperanza Boulevard and Lajitas Street.

“This gives us a cleaner and safer traffic flow in and out of the station,” Ball said.

There will be a dedicated turn lane coming from Texas 46 and a dedicated deceleration-turn lane coming from Herff Elementary School.

The proposed amendment, approved 5-0 by the council, includes final plat revisions to incorporate the additional acreage; expanded civil engineering and landscape design for the enlarged site; inventory and assessment of natural site features; additional stormwater treatment design requirements; Esperanza infrastructure documents; and building redesign revisions related to the museum, training and health-wellness components.