I was lucky to be invited to join in a visit to the new Firehouse recently. The tour began with a walk-through of the interior, lead by CAL FIRE, Deputy Chief, Rick Swan. Undoubtedly, the most impressive visual feature is the massive trusses above the bays that can house up to 4 engines. We were guided through the office and living quarters, all the while walking on polished, exposed aggregate, concrete floors with skylights overhead and stacks of, yet to be installed, cabinets.
We were shown the Captain’s office, a Sheriff’s interview room, the IT/Communications room with wires dangling from the walls and ceiling that will eventually connect the Station radios, phones and computers. Matt Jauregue, the Emergency Plan Center Chief said, “the County has done a really great job in the technical part of wiring all of our fire stations. It gives us a lot of flexibility. We will be using the County standards with 2 to 3 wireless access points within the building.” We saw a laundry area, the kitchen, four bedrooms and a dayroom that will include an entertainment center. The indoor part of the tour concluded with what will be a carpeted training room with outside access and restrooms that will be available to the community for group meetings.
The outside tour included a 30,000 gallon water storage tank that Kathy Mac Neill, from County Architectural Services, said cost about $50,000, installed. In conjunction with the tank there is a huge fire pump for pressurizing the Station’s sprinkler system. Sheila Lyons asked whether the station would have any photovoltaic panels. Deputy Chief Swan said, “not yet but we are trying to get at least some included in the budget, Fifth District Supervisor, Jim Patterson said “if there is money left, they are hoping to put a system in and that the panels would be located behind the station over the leech field.” We viewed the Landscape Plan, prepared by San Luis Obispo, RRM Design Group. Supervisor Patterson, who has recruited the Creston Garden Club to plant some trees, said he would like to take advantage of the bare root season. Rick Swan said that the Rarrig Construction contract ends February 23rd and that does not include any change list items or certain other county projects. He estimated that mid April would be a reasonable time for completion. He said that a letter requesting authorization for occupancy needed to be signed off by the Board of Supervisors. “Once that is done, then we can actually move in.”, he said.
So, it looks like the old Fire Station will be available for renovation in April, provided that CATCH has secured a ground lease for the property and a permit for the project has been issued. These items are moving through the proper channels and are expected to be in hand by the time of ground breaking for the new Creston Community Center.
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The Creston Community Center Project has been referred to the Creston Advisory Body for review. County General Services would like to include CAB’s recommendation in their report to the Board of Supervisors. CAB will be reviewing the project at its next meeting on Wednesday, January 18th at 7:00 pm in the Creston Community Church Sanctuary. Please attend and voice your support for this much needed addition to our community. This will be the last opportunity for the public to participate in the design process in an open forum. If you haven’t been following the posts on the Roundup, select the “Community Center” category in the sidebar. This will familiarise you with the project so far.
CATCH will be holding a meeting in the later part of January. The main purpose for this meeting is to finalize the plans for the new Creston Community Center. At the meeting the representatives of each community organization will bring any additional ideas or suggestions from their membership to the table. Any comments posted on the Roundup will also be included. Based on all input concerning the project up until the meeting, CATCH will reach a consensus and give the architect for the project the go ahead to draw up the working plans for the center. Anyone unable to attend the CAB meeting and would like to provide input regarding the center should do so either in comments on this blog or by contacting their CATCH representative (see list below).
| ORGANIZATION |
REPRESENTATIVE |
CONTACT |
| Creston Community Assoc. |
Vickie Bittle |
238-0403 |
| Creston Classic Rodeo |
Mike Barrett |
237-1816 |
| Creston Garden Club |
Audrey Beatty |
237-1800 |
| Creston Men’s Club |
Bob McCulloch |
237-2768 |
| Creston Women’s Club |
Anita Black |
227-4865 |
| Creston Vol. Fire Co. #43 |
Bruce Hebron |
238-1662 |
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The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, CAL FIRE, recently suffered a $34 million budget cut due to the severe financial crisis affecting the state. Some of the effects of the cuts include: 730 fewer seasonal firefighters, reducing the staffing on engines from four to three and cancellation of the exclusive use contract for the DC-10 air tanker.
Assembly Bill (AB)x1 29, passed by a majority vote and approved July 7, 2011, allows for the imposition of a fire prevention fee of up to $150 per habitable dwelling in those areas where CAL FIRE has the primary duty for wildland fire prevention and suppression. (NOTE! Creston Representative, Katcho Achadjian voted against this bill). State Senator, Sam Blakeslee said of the bill, “It’s most likely illegal.” and “ It’s very probable that the courts will side with taxpayers who are bringing forth lawsuits that will challenge the constitutionality.” California’s Board of Forestry and Fire Protection voted November. 9, 2011 to levy the fee. The State Board of Equalization will issue bills for the fee in 2012, retroactive back to July 1, 2011.
I have read the bill and you may also (see below). It is my conclusion that the tax (“fee”) collected will not be used to offset the cuts in manpower, equipment and therefore, fire protection and suppression. The money will, instead, be used only for fire prevention activities such as, grants; inspections; public education; mapping and other fire prevention projects authorized by the board. I agree with Senator Blakeslee’s comment about the constitutionality of the bill. The fees are really a tax and under state law, a tax requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature for approval.
Property owners will have 30 days to pay the fee and, if late, will be penalized at 20 percent per month. Property owners who believe they are being unfairly charged can petition a bill within 30 days of receiving it. To read the full text of Assembly Bill (AB)x1 29, including the process of appeal, go to:
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120121AB29&search_keywords=%22fire+prevention+fee%22
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In a comment to a previous post, Sheila Lyons wrote, “I think we need to have a long-term site plan for what we think we want as we go through the phases of the project. Maybe it already exists? Do we have an idea of a proposed location for the addition to double the functional space?” Well, it just so happens that we do have a long-term site plan. It took a while to convert it to a format that could be displayed in a post. It is available below for your review AND your COMMENTS.
Not everyone can look at a set of plans and elevations and get an idea of how those two-dimensional drawings will actually look in three dimensions. Below, I have picked, what I think to be, the best vantage point for a perspective view to give a sense of what the proposed Pavilion, relocated roll up doors and glazed entryways will look like. Also, this view shows the relationship between the kitchen and the outdoor use area. The existing roll up door, on the Kitchen/Storage Area, can be used as a pass through (see floor plan and elevations in previous post).
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