Survey results on bond financing to pay for a new fire station on Highlands Lane. 

The majority of residents who participated in a city survey agree with the city’s plan to build a new firehouse near Highlands Lane and U.S. Highway 101.

The city has identified the site on the Cottages at Gearhart dune to relocate the aging firehouse on Pacific Way that is vulnerable to an earthquake and tsunami.

Of the 554 responses to the survey, about 65% said they agree with the city.

About 60% said they would support the necessary bond financing in a November election to pay for a new firehouse.

Among the 309 voters who participated in the survey, 51% supported both the Highlands Lane site and the bond, a narrow margin that indicates voters are more skeptical than others in the community.

This was the second survey conducted by the city to help determine a firehouse site. A 2019 survey pinpointed the High Point site on North Marion as preferable to Gearhart Park or the firehouse on Pacific Way.

The new survey period was from June 25 to Aug. 1 — just over a month.

By comparison, the 2019 survey was open for three months and received significantly more responses, with 947 people participating.

The new survey came as plans for a firehouse on North Marion Avenue hit a wall. The project faced high costs and opposition from the nearby Palisades Homeowners Association.

The city is working with planners to bring the 30-acre Cottages at Gearhart subdivision off Highlands Lane into the city’s urban growth boundary. The cost to perform land improvements and build the firehouse on the Highlands Lane site will be about $10.5 million.

At last week’s City Council meeting, City Administrator Chad Sweet said he was pleased by a recent geotechnical report. “This could affect the type of foundation that we use in this building, and they anticipate that this will actually not be a foundation as expensive as the one we were looking at, previously, so there’s likely going to be a cost savings for that.”

Sweet also said conversations with the state Department of Geology and Mineral Industries indicated the Highlands Lane site was outside the extra-large tsunami zone. “That’s kind of a big deal,” he said.