Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Firefighter Scott Rosingana, in front of the building occupied by the Saratoga Fire District since 1923,
said he would welcome a larger firehouse.

New building proposed for fire, sheriff's departments

Existing buildings would be razed

By Julie Mehta

The Saratoga Fire District has come up with a master plan for replacing the existing fire and sheriff's buildings on Saratoga Avenue. It's the preferred way to achieve the expanded facilities and additional parking needed, district officials told the City Council at a recent joint meeting.

The development of plans to expand the district's building began over a year ago, when it was found there could be problems with the structure in the event of an earthquake. A community committee was established and members decided to examine the possibility of designing a structure to house all public safety services--sheriff's, fire and ambulance.

The Westside Sheriff's Substation, which is in leased post office space, is also experiencing overcrowding and parking problems.

Since the favored alternative is to tear down the firehouse and start from scratch, Robert Egan, chairman of the study committee, said the district has checked on the historic value of the building, which was orginally built as an automobile garage and which the district began using in 1923.

Egan says it has been remodeled so many times that it now has no historic value at all.

At the July 23 meeting, Fire Chief Ernie Kraule presented to the council several options for improving the district's current structure. Option one, which the district can fund with money in its reserve, is to repair and update the current building. Option two is to replace the old building with a new one, adding a second story. Option three is to do this, as well as realign the alley in order to provide more parking. To enact this option, a water main in the alley would have to be moved, at a cost of $98,000.

Kraule said the Saratoga Federated Church is allowing the use of its parking lot, but that this situation cannot be permanent.

Kraule called option four--replacing the firehouse and post office with a new public safety complex--"the best of all worlds." But this alternative would require support from the community in the form of a bond measure. Such a measure could probably get on the ballot no earlier than 1998.

The cost of this option depends on the selling price of the post office, but Fire Commissioner Bob Egan estimated that buying the post office, razing the existing buildings and constructing a new complex will cost no more than $2 million.

Egan said the district is willing to work out a deal with the post office to allow it to keep post office boxes in the lobby of the new structure. A meeting with the post office is scheduled for Aug. 22. Kraule aims to have a concrete price on the land by the end of the month.

Still, such a project would take 18 to 30 months to complete. Until then, the district will have to make do with the current structure, but Egan said that everyone now "seems to be on the same page" and the city's support should ease the process of developing a new building.