The former O.E. Gray School lot at North Chestnut Street and West Adams Street was determined in a feasibility study to be the best location on untaxed property for a new Platteville fire station.

The new fire station may not be built at O.E. Gray, however.

The city is considering property somewhere in the Platteville Industry Park as an option for the replacement for the Platteville Fire Department’s 1964-vintage fire station on East Main Street.

Industry Park property became an option due to the compromises of the O.E. Gray site as fire station planners sought to reduce the initial price tag of $15.5 million to $18.4 million, depending on which options are added, for the original 32,525-square-foot proposal.

The four proposals, three of which are at O.E. Gray, will be presented to the fire district’s townships before the Common Council chooses which option to pursue in September.

Two plans use the O.E. Gray property as is — a slimmed-down 26,535-square-foot version of the initial two-story proposal, estimated to cost $12.48 million, and a 29,164-square-foot one-story proposal, estimated to cost $13.39 million.

Both plans would have most of the building to the south end of the property, with fire trucks exiting onto West Adams east of North Chestnut because of the slope of the property and because the fence on the O.E. Gray property is part of the properties to the west.

A third plan would build a 28,881-square-foot one-story fire station by purchasing property to the west. That is estimated to cost almost $13.27 million plus the cost of acquiring the additional land.

The Industry Park option would build a 28,881-square-foot one-story fire station for $12.59 million.

None of the plans include a seventh apparatus bay, estimated at almost $400,000, or a basement, estimated at $2.6 million.

The proposal that involves purchasing property west of O.E. Gray would exit fire trucks from West Adams Street (Wisconsin 81) west of North Chestnut, instead of east of North Chestnut in the first two O.E. Gray plans, which is considered safer since West Adams is wider west of North Chestnut.

The original $15.5 million proposal included seven drive-through apparatus bays, decontamination facilities, administrative offices, a 60-person training room, a kitchen, space for a city emergency operations center, and future room for a dormitory should the Fire Department hire full-time firefighters.

 “This was all kind of slimmed down really based on square footage to hit a price point” of $3 million in reductions, said city manager Clint Langreck. “There’s concerns on how much functionality are we going to be losing if we compress those spaces that small.”

The Industry Park’s advantage is its price and flatter land — “a bigger sandbox and have less restrictions and less civil [engineering] work … so maybe we get more for our money” through more room for future expansion, said Langreck.

The downside of an Industry Park site is that on Platteville’s south side it is far from the center of the fire district in terms of geography, fire calls and where firefighters live, which is likely to increase fire response time. The Industry Park site would also take away taxable property for future economic development.

The proposals reduce the number of bays from seven to six, though a seventh bay can be added.

“Not everything goes to every type of incident that we have,” said Fire Chief Ryan Simmons. “As it is now, we have to move vehicles to get to another vehicle that we need to use, because vehicles are basically placed in the current station by how they fit, not how they should functionally respond.”

Simmons said a seventh bay would provide “more space in between them, not necessarily loaded by operational functionality … if we’re working on one and we can’t get the one out behind it, it’s a problem. …

“At $400,000 [now], you’ll never build that space for $400,000 again. … That space becomes more and more expensive, and maybe not possible in the future.”

The dormitory option is based on comments from fire chiefs that “it’s matter not a matter of if you’re going to need 24/7 staffing but probably a matter of when you’re going to need it,” said Langreck.

The four new proposals involve the city’s borrowing $3 million to $3.5 million, the townships in the fire district borrowing $1 million to $1.5 million, and $1.5 million in fundraising. The city is receiving $7 million in a U.S. Department of Agriculture Congressionally Directed Grant toward the project.

The O.E. Gray site was chosen over the former National Guard Armory in the feasibility study by Public Administration Associates because the latter site would have required building a three-story building.

The city purchased the O.E. Gray site for $1 from the Platteville School District in 2019. Earlier this year the city moved the Platteville Senior Center, which had been located in the O.E. Gray building, to the Municipal Building.

Construction on the new fire station is expected to start in fall 2024. The city is planning on spending $12.5 million on a fire station in next year’s Capital Improvement Plan.