The Durango Fire Protection District is courting the city with an opportunity: cohousing the Durango Police Department with the fire department in a new downtown firehouse.
The fire district is buying the Durango School District 9-R administration campus next to Buckley Park. But the large, historic, downtown building provides more space than the district needs. Meanwhile, the city of Durango has been looking for an opportunity to upgrade its police facilities.
Durango City Council and staff members met with the DFPD fire board and staff Tuesday to talk about the future downtown fire station. As a study session, no decisions were made during the meeting.
Hal Doughty, DFPD fire chief, sees the cohousing possibility as a match made in heaven.
“Every public group I’ve spoken about it with absolutely sees the genius behind it and the benefits to the community and the city,” Doughty said. “I think that’s a really important piece of this project for the public to get to know about.”
The school district and the fire district agreed to the sale in early August. Buckley Park is not part of the deal: The property contract is contingent on separating the 1½-acre park between 12th Street and 13th Street from the rest of the property.
The city’s Planning Commission is scheduled to review the parcel subdivision in late September, and a public hearing will be held before City Council in October, according to city staff members.
The fire district will buy the remaining land, which includes the Administration Building and Big Picture High School building, for $5 million in cash and $1.94 million of in-kind services.
Next, the fire district will embark on an 18-month design process. School district staff members will move off the campus by December 2022.
The historic building will be remodeled on the inside, and the high school will be replaced with bays for fire engines, ambulances and other emergency services apparatus, Doughty said.
The fire district said many of its needs match those of the police department, like a gym, security features and training spaces.
The fire district estimates it will spend $14 million to $17 million on the new station. The entities could share some of the renovation and construction costs, which could be cheaper for both while still providing improved facilities, Doughty said during Tuesday’s meeting.
But the city needs to do a complete assessment of all city facilities to decide what improvements need to be made, Mayor Kim Baxter said.
“We’d have to do a full analysis of whether or not that (cohousing) would work,” Baxter said.
Councilor Melissa Youssef said it was a “phenomenal opportunity” to discuss.
“I’m really looking forward to having that conversation with the council,” Youssef said. “Since it has been brought forth publicly, we will definitely follow up as a council on that and start to talk about how we engage in those conversations.”
City councilors asked the district for answers to multiple questions, some shared by members of the public, including:
The fire district has looked into purchasing the property, thus ending its temporary lease with the city, Doughty said. But the city has different intentions for the riverfront property.
Based on call data, the new facility must be in a specific area: between the Animas River and East Third Avenue, and between College Drive and 14th Street, according to the district’s purchase proposal.
No, the fire district is contractually obligated to follow through with its purchase of the school district property, Doughty said.
Doughty said the emergency vehicles only need to use their sirens to clear traffic, not immediately when they pull out of the truck bays. Also, the fire district has technology that enables emergency vehicles to control traffic lights in their favor, which would also minimize siren use.
The district was conducting real estate negotiations, and it couldn’t afford to have the details made public, Doughty said.
The meeting was the first time the two entities have gathered in a public meeting to talk about the fire district’s downtown property purchases.
“We haven’t had the opportunity to have a discussion with the City Council group-to-group yet, so I felt like that was really one of the biggest goals of this thing – to get on record the fire board talking with City Council about our intentions,” Doughty said.
Baxter said she wished the communication happened months ago, or sooner.
“I think we have to have an open line to communicate and set up conversations we haven’t had in the past so we don’t have misunderstandings in the future,” Baxter said.
smullane@durangoherald.com
