The new Okanogan County Fire District 6 station will be built on a parcel adjacent to Horizon Flats Road in Winthrop.
Design, engineering work complete
Okanogan County Fire District 6 is preparing to solicit construction bids for a new fire station in Winthrop.
District residents approved a levy lid lift in an April special election, providing a major part of the funding for the new facility on Horizon Flats Road.
Since then, the fire district has been working with Spokane-based architecture firm Watson and Herres to create plans for the new station. The project has gone through architectural and engineering review to prepare a call for bids.
District officials hope to award a construction by January of next year.
District 6 Fire Chief Cody Acord has been working directly with the architects on a bid package.
“It helps having an architect that has built a fire station before,” Acord said.
“There are a lot of requirements with that type of facility,” said George Watson, partner at Watson and Herres. “We’re very familiar with the process, and we’ve worked closely with the [Fire District 6] to be able to get what they want.”
“It’s been an ongoing process,” said Watson. “Once the levy was approved we started on the design. Now we’re working on construction documents.”
After choosing a builder, the fire district will have to get the building plans approved by the Town of Winthrop.
“The permit process will probably take up to a month for a project like this,” said Marc Straub, building official for the Town of Winthrop.
In April, the district asked voters to approve a property tax increase of 17.5 cents to the existing levy of 65.5 cents, resulting in a permanent levy of 83 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, with the tax increase starting in 2021.
The district will begin collecting additional taxes from voter-approved levy lid lift in 2021. Additional funding will come from a $1.8 million grant provided by the Bruno and Evelyne Betti Foundation. That grant was dependent on the district’s levy proposal being approved by voters.
For Acord, the biggest concern is whether construction bids will fall within the district’s available funding.
“So far, everything’s going as planned,” said Acord. “And, once we have accepted a bid for construction we hope to start construction by the end of March or early April [of 2021].”
At the time of the levy election, construction costs were estimated at slightly more than $4 million. The station will be on a site the district purchased in 2009.
