Newport Beach : Residents Help to Redesign Fire Station

After weeks of meetings, fire officials and Balboa Island residents have come up with a revamped design for the island’s new fire station.

The design changes were sought by residents who complained that the original design did not fit in with the character of the neighborhood. The new design trims off several hundred square feet of space, lowers the building’s height and includes a tile-roofed, “early California” look. The changes may also trim about $125,000 off the $1-million cost of the project, according to Fire Chief Timothy D. Riley.

The City Council in March had approved a preliminary design that called for a two-story, 5,150-square-foot fire station at Park and Marine avenues to replace the existing, 61-year-old station at 323 Marine Ave.

Fire officials have said the old building is so small that it cannot house modern fire equipment, and the three firefighters stationed there are crammed into a few hundred feet of living space.

But when neighboring residents continued to complain that the new station will be too large for the village-like neighborhood, Riley agreed to go back to the drawing board with them to hash out a more acceptable design.

The meetings with the residents and their architectural consultants have resulted in a design that scales the building down to about 4,500 square feet, with an average roof height of 24 feet.

The second-floor living area will be cut back to accommodate a maximum of four firefighters, not five as originally planned.

The living space will be kept to the area over the first-floor office, rather than spread out across the entire building. The height of the building will be reduced but will still allow the first-floor truck storage area to be 14 feet high, Riley said.

“That was my main concern--we still needed a 14-foot height for the (firefighting) apparatus,” he said.

A few details are still being ironed out, but both the fire chief and the residents involved expressed satisfaction with the basic product.

“This has been a really wonderful community effort,” said Tom O’Brien, president of the Balboa Island Improvement Assn. and one of those involved in the redesign effort.

“The station is a much more handsome building, while still retaining all the functional capabilities the Fire Department would expect. We as a citizens’ group really appreciated Chief Riley and City Manager Kevin Murphy’s willingness to work with us.”

Riley said the redesign effort put the project about three months behind schedule and that he expects the building to be completed by Jan. 1, 1994.

The City Council is slated on Monday night to approve a revised contract giving architect James Karl Robinson permission to work on the new design.