Learn About Urbandale's Proposed $6 Million Fire Station At Meeting Tonight

URBANDALE, IA. -- The second of six informational sessions on construction of a proposed fire station in northwest Urbandale will be held from 6:30 to 7 :30 p.m. tonight at Walnut Hills Elementary School, 4240 N.W. 156th St. The open-house-style meeting was planned to share with residents details about the need for additional fire and emergency services in the growing community.

A bond referendum on the ballot Nov. 7 will ask voters to approve $6 million for the project. If it passes, final designs for the fire station would be prepared as soon as possible and the station would start construction in early 2018, with completion possible in early to mid-2019, Urbandale Fire Chief Jerry Holt told Patch.

Urbandale currently operates fire stations at 7100 Douglas Ave. and 3927 121st St., but that leaves a large portion of the growing community under-served, he said.

"Essentially we have all our new growth to the north and the west and it's more than five miles to a fire station," Holt told Patch today. In addition, response times to that area can be as much as eight minutes and the standard for response times is six minutes.

"One may think this is a relatively small population in that area," Holt said, "but we have had a significant number of instances in that area in the past."

(For more local news, sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Urbandale Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Literature about the bond referendum indicates the Urbandale Fire Department responded to 757 calls in the city’s under-served area in the past five years.

The new fire station would be located in Walnut Creek Regional Park at 152nd Street and Meredith Drive. In addition to quicker response times for fire and medical emergencies, it would create operational efficiencies in the department. The design is similar to the fire station at 121st Street but would not include staffed administrative offices, Holt said.

While the $6 million cost does not include apparatus for a new fire station, money is earmarked for that, Holt said. Money was set aside as part of the city's capital improvement projects and a firetruck that was scheduled for replacement in a previous budget was deferred until a new station opens.

In addition to the fire station, the bond referendum will seek voter approval for an off-site gas and diesel-fueling station at 170th Street and Waterford Road. Officials said it would be similar in design to the city’s current fueling station at 9401 Hickman Road.

Urbandale has 123 miles of streets, 22 miles of trails and 462 acres of parkland west of Interstate 35/80, according to city officials.

The bond vote requires 60.1 percent approval for passage. City officials said the cost of the project would add up to less than $8 annually in additional property taxes to the owner of a home valued at $100,000 and less than $20 to the owner of a home valued at $250,000.

Additional informational sessions about the project, all with an open-house format, will be at:

• Oct, 4, 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Karen Acres Elementary School, 3500 74th St.
• Oct 10, 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Webster Elementary School, 12955 Aurora Ave.
• Oct. 19, 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the Giovannetti Community Shelter in Walker Johnston Park, 9000 Douglas Ave.
• Oct. 25, 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Shuler Elementary School, 16400 Douglas Parkway, Clive.

Project details, conceptual designs for the fire station and a Standards of Coverage Report for the city's department are available on the Urbandale Parks and Recreation web page.

City of Urbandale photo, Video by FEH Design for Urbandale Fire Department