Fire Department's best four picks for a new Central Fire Station in same First Avenue East area

CEDAR RAPIDS - Do you want tacos or a history center?

That was one question Thursday after Acting Fire Chief Mark English revealed to a City Hall committee the five blocks that the Fire Department has looked at as a possible new home for the city's Central Fire Station.

Four of the five blocks are in the same area of First Avenue East: one, the 600 block of First Avenue NE, is occupied by Taco Bell; one, the 600 block of First Avenue SE, is home to The History Center; another is the Emerald Knights block, 700 First Avenue SE, which had been considered for the new library; and the fourth is the 800 block of First Avenue NE, owned by St. Luke's Hospital.

All four sites provide quick access to First Avenue and to Interstate 380, which are key criteria in picking a new site, English told the seven-member site-selection committee of which he is a part.

The fifth site is Cleveland Park in the 1500 block of First Avenue SW, though English noted it has serious drawbacks. Residents might not be willing to give up a park, and train tracks on First Avenue West could hold up fire trucks, he said.

English also named a sixth block, Sixth Street and Third Avenue SW, though he noted that spot took on some water in the 2008 flood.

A local Realtor has also suggested a block that now houses an apartment building at Second Avenue and 15th Street SE.

Council member and committee member Don Karr doubted the Cleveland Park block would make the cut because of the railroad-track problem. The east-side sites can use the A Avenue NE viaduct to bypass trains.

Karr also said it was possible a hotel might end up on the Emerald Knights site.

Marty Hoeger, a development coordinator for the city, told the committee that none of the property owners had been contacted to see if they would be willing to sell.

On Thursday afternoon at The History Center, Melanie Alexander, the center's executive director, was caught off guard by the suggestion that the center and its 10-year-old building might make way for a new fire station.

“We have not been informed of this possibility, and it would regard a great deal of board discussion,” Alexander said.

Committee member Nancy Evans, a past City Council member and public safety commissioner under the city's former commission government, said it appeared the Fire Department would be able to close its Coe College district firehouse at 1424 B Ave. NE if one of the First Avenue East sites was picked for the Central Fire Station.

English said Evans was correct, and he said the department would seek to add a district station on the west side once the Coe site closed. He suggested the area around F Avenue and Belmont Parkway NW as one possible spot. However, that would take some money, he noted.

In recent weeks, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had agreed to pay the city to build the Central Fire Station in a location other than the current one at 222 Third St. NW, which was hit hard by the 2008 flood and is now in the 100-year flood plain on the new FEMA flood map. FEMA will pay for the land and 90 percent of the cost to build a new station similar to the old one. The state of Iowa pays the other 10 percent, with the city paying additional money if it wants a better, larger facility.

English said the department had outgrown the 27,000-square-foot Central Fire Station before the flood, and the department now is looking to build a two-story station with 40,000 square feet. Under modern-day standards, each firefighter has his or her own sleeping quarters while the old station had a dormitory for male firefighters, English noted.

Committee member Ann Lipsky, president of Smulekoff's Furniture, asked if the department could rebuild at the existing site, and English said he understood FEMA would not pay to build the station there because it is in the 100-year flood plain.

Evans wondered if the new Central Fire Station could go on the site of the district station now on B Avenue NE near Coe College.

Karr also suggested a spot near the Cargill plant on the north side of Interstate 380 might be another to look at.

As for The History Center site, English said one thought was that The History Center could build new on what has been referred to as the “Banjo” block - the 400 block of Sixth Street SE - which will be across Sixth Street SE from the site of the new library.

Karr said he thought TrueNorth, which is now on the site for the new library, is looking at the so-called Banjo block.

The committee hopes to have a recommendation for the City Council in 60 days, Karr said.