For the third time in two years, Eugene voters are being asked for tax dollars to fund new Fire and Emergency Medical Services facilities.
If Ballot Measure 20-57 passes in the May 21 primary election, the city would issue almost $8.7 million of property taxes to build a live-fire training facility and fund a new downtown fire station to replace the existing City Hall fire station.
“We have a tremendous need to move the station out of the current facility,” Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey said. “This is an opportunity for the citizens to provide an enhancement to the protection they already get from the city of Eugene.” Torrey said the city is looking at two locations for construction of the new station. The first, at the corner of 13th Avenue and Willamette Street, would provide a straight shot to the University of Oregon and Sacred Heart Medical Center. The other option would be on the corner of 13th Avenue and Olive Street.
Eugene Fire Department spokesman Glen Potter said “several locations are under consideration.” Potter said that if the measure passes, the new live-fire training facility would be located at Second Avenue and Chambers Street.
A recommendation was made by fire and EMS members that the replacement of the current Fire Station No. 1 be a 23,500 square-foot station to occupy a full one-quarter block in or near the downtown area.
City councilors found that Eugene is in need of a new fire station and training facilities. The department has been housed at its present location in City Hall since opening in 1964.
If passed, the levy would allocate $7.8 million toward construction of the new fire station and $900,000 to the live-fire training facility, Potter said. For every $1,000 assessed on personal property, 11 cents would go to the measure. With an average property value of $143,000, the average citizen could expect to pay $16 annually, Potter said.
Measure 20-57 differs from previous bonds in that the fire department would receive funding separate from the police department.
Councilors believe the measure will allow for the continued growth of the community, provide safer quarters for firefighters and provide modern and realistic training conditions for firefighters.
“It’s been long acknowledged that we need to replace the building,” councilor Scott Meisner said. “Downtown is growing more and more. It also serves as a support station for other stations.”
Of another concern to officials, Potter said, are the facilities themselves. When the facility was built, it was made to accommodate only male firefighters. Fire Station No. 1 has since tried to incorporate facilities to meet the needs of both genders. Two years ago, a $36.6 million bond measure was proposed to voters in the May 2000 primary election. Ballot Measure 20-31 would have financed both a downtown police and fire station. The measure was narrowly defeated, with 53.5 percent of voters opposed to the funding.
The measure was placed on the ballot because neither the police nor fire departments had enough space and because structural examinations of City Hall revealed that the building would not withstand a major earthquake.
“The building is the least capable of supporting an earthquake of all city-owned buildings,” Torrey said.
Potter stressed the importance of emergency services in terms of the overall situation of the city.
“You don’t want buildings falling on fire trucks and firefighters when a disaster is going on,” Potter said.
Voters were again asked to fund police and fire departments in the November 2000 general election. Ballot Measure 20-36, at a cost of $25.1 million, would have funded the construction of an 80,000-square-foot police station but only would have provided funds for the purchase of property to build a new fire station — not to build the station itself. Measure 20-36 failed, with 61.7 percent of voters opposed.
Now, two years later, city councilors, Torrey and department officials are hopeful voters will provide what they consider to be much-needed funding.
“The citizens voted ‘no’ twice and I gave it my best shot,” Torrey said. “The facility will have to be replaced sometime in the future. … If this as a stand alone will be supported by the people, it’s a bite of the apple.”
And if Ballot Measure 20-31 doesn’t pass?
“We will maintain services with the status quo until further notice,” Potter said.