The Camas City Council has approved a $148,000 contract to kickstart the replacement — and possible re-siting — of the Camas-Washougal Fire Department’s Station 41 headquarters.
Consultants from Mackenzie, the consultant group Camas hired in 2021 to conduct a capital facilities plan for the Camas-Washougal Fire Department, has told city officials that the joint fire department needed to replace two fire stations and build a third within the next decade.
The consultants’ 2021 report showed Fire Station 41 next to Camas City Hall did not meet the guidelines for “an essential facility,” would not withstand a major earthquake and should be replaced within three years.
The report also warned that the joint fire department should replace its Washougal fire station by 2028 and build a third station in Camas to accommodate population growth by 2031.
CWFD Fire Chief Cliff Free says replacing Station 41 will eventually require voter approval of a bond measure.
The $148,000 deal with Battle Ground-based Johansson Wing Architects encompasses “the initial efforts to find a suitable site for a new CWFD Station 41 in the city of Camas, including community outreach, preliminary station programming, preliminary site and station design and eventual bond support services.”
The consultants will develop two to three “short list” sites that might be suitable for a new Station 41, identify a preferred site and produce a pros-and-cons list for that preferred site. They also will develop and carry out a public outreach plan over the next five months, according to Free.
“This proposal is … a professional services agreement that will govern the first two phases of this project,” Free said during a July 17 council workshop. “It will be a four-phase project to replace Station 41.”
Free said fire department administrators have already done “a lot” of the preliminary work needed to eventually bring a Station 41 replacement bond to the voters, but he said the department needs to have architectural work done by consultants to help find the best site for the new headquarters.
The work included in the contract with Johannson Wing Architects will give the city the information and cost estimates it needs to approach the public about replacing Station 41 “and say, ‘This is exactly what we plan to do, and this is exactly what it’s going to cost,’” Free said.
The council members later voted 5-1 to approve the fire-services contract, which was part of their consent agenda. Councilmember Leslie Lewallen, who questioned elements of the contract, cast the lone “no” vote. Councilman Tim Hein was absent.
