The Gearhart Planning Commission gots its first look at plans for a new firehouse and police station off U.S. Highway 101 near Highlands Lane. The plan, if approved by voters at a bond vote in May, calls for a 20-year $14.5 million bond cost, at a cost of about $1.15 per $1,000 of assessed home value.

Commissioners reviewed preliminary design costs and drawings provided by Pivot Architecture, which has built fire stations in the past, including a station being built in a similar tsunami-resilient manner, City Administrator Chad Sweet said. Cost at the new site is about $325 per square foot.

“We are required to build using critical infrastructure designs because we’re relocated in a potential for a 9.0 earthquake,” Sweet said. “Our building has to be built very resiliently, so it’s expensive. But if you divide that, take that cost per square foot and multiply it by any home that’s for sale right now, it’s very similar.”

The budget includes $10.9 million for the building itself and construction, which includes $4.29 million for the 13,000-square-foot fire station, plus costs for earthwork, sidewalks, site improvements, water systems, lighting and a 21,500-square-foot open area for helicopter use. A 17% design contingency adds $1.2 million to the building and site construction cost, estimated overall at $10.67 million. A design fee of $1.7 million and permits, inspections, equipment and other costs amount to $3.1 million. With a 2% overall project contingency, total estimated project costs reach $14.3 million.

“This is going to be a station that’s adequate for us for some time to come,” Sweet said. “But it’s nothing really fancy. Our firefighters have changed over the years. Almost a third of our firefighters are females, which is fantastic. But it creates all these issues, especially when we’re sharing one bathroom right now with no shower and no decontamination.”

The resiliency station will also act as an emergency operation center in the future so will be designed to be able to help us in any cases such as the 2007 storm, Sweet said, in which electricity and communications were down for days.

Plans also incorporate a future 2-acre park.

“I think a park in this area is very positive for all the people that live in this area to get to a park more easily,” Sweet said.

About 45 homes will be built by developers after the land is brought into the city’s urban growth boundary, Sweet said, about double what developers could have built if the land remained zoned by the county.

A traffic study clocked 50,000 cars over the highway last July during a 30-day period. Traffic from the 45 additional homes should not alter that impact, he said.

A light could prove costly and unnecessary, estimated at an additional $2 million, and studies cast doubt as to whether it would enhance safety.

“Right now it’s just not justified,” Sweet said. “But we’ll continue to do studies and watch that.”

Overall, the goal is to withstand all but the largest tsunamis.

“This is survivable,” Sweet said. “You see that this is something that we can deal with. It’ll be devastating. But if we’re prepared, we’ll be able to recover faster. If we’re not prepared, recovery will take a much longer time.”

If approved by voters, the estimated tax rate increase for a new firehouse and police station off U.S. Highway 101 near Highlands Lane will be approximately $121 per year for each $100,000 of assessed value of property to be paid over a maximum 20 years. On a home assessed at $300,000, the estimated property tax increase would be $364 per year; at $500,000, just over $600 per year.

The city is considering two different finance options, which will be determined by City Council after the bond has passed and it is ready to go out for financing, City Treasurer Justine Hill said after the meeting. Because the city has not decided which finance option they will pursue, the estimate on the ballot title needs to be the maximum estimated amount for taxpayers for only the debt that will be added, which is the fire/police debt.

In finance option 1 for only the fire/police general obligation debt service, the average levy rate over the life of the issuance is estimated at $1.152 and the maximum estimated levy rate $1.156 per $1,000 of assessed property value. In finance option 2, for only the fire/police general obligation debt service, the average levy rate over the life of the issuance is estimated at $1.154 and the maximum estimated levy rate $1.213.

The city has to use the highest estimated levy rate in the ballot information, which is in option 2, or $1.213.