New Fire Station: Station Design, Additional Land, Rezoning, and Setback Variance

The Wolfskin VFD Firefighters have been talking about a new station for many years. The need was made clear to all with the arrival of the Super Tanker in March 2006. It was so large that it could only be housed in the main bay of the station (after some modifications to both its roof and the tanker). This required that the aging pumper be moved from the main bay to the lean-to bay, displacing the Knocker/Brush truck. The Knocker was squeezed into the kitchen/training room after the room was stripped of its fixtures and adding bay doors. This was possible only because the doorway between the main bay and the kitchen had been exactly placed many decades ago to allow entry into the Knocker's driver seat.

Our property was donated to the Board of Commissioners as Parcel 1 in 1982 and Parcel 2 in 2006 by Forest Kellogg. Earlier attempts to design a new station on this land or on a larger property were not successful. The present design, however, fits on the property although it does not meet the minimum property size and the minimum setback from a frontage-road now required for new construction. Encouraged by this result, Forest Kellogg very kindly donated a third parcel which brings the combined property to above the minimum required size and allows the station to meet the frontage-road setback.

So the next step is to combine the three parcels. This requires they each have the same owner (now the Board of Commissioners) and the same zoning classification (now P/G: Public/Government for Parcel 1 and A-2: General Agricultural for Parcels 2 and 3). Hence the request to rezone Parcels 2 and 3 to P/G: Public/Government.

Furthermore, the department would prefer the new station be sited as originally designed to fit on Parcels 1+2. This leaves all of Parcel 3 for a future outdoor Community Center. Hence the request for a minor variance in the frontage-road setback, in which a corner of the new station would be 67 feet from the 40 foot-wide Right-of-way of Wolfskin Road rather than the 100 feet required by the new zoning requirements. The Figure below shows the requested position of the new station on the combined property. Click here for a larger 0.2 Mb .png version of the Figure. See the Figures in the Rezoning/Variance Request [8 Mb pdf or 2 Mb pdf] for parcel boundaries and other details. We can use the old station while the new station is being built.



And here is the floor plan of the proposed station. Click here for a larger 0.3 Mb .png version with specifications. There is a discussion of the goals of the design, the limitations in its size and siting, and other design considerations in the Rezoning/Variance Request [8 Mb pdf or 2 Mb pdf].



For those unfamiliar with the process, there is a lengthy document detailing the required contents of a rezoning request. Just between ourselves, it is possible that I am the only one who knows exactly what is requested by this document. It took several months and a 'sketch-plat hearing' before the Planning and Zoning Commission and a brief before the Board of Commissioners to learn exactly what the requests should be. With the help of Mary Cook, the Administrator of the Department of Planning, Zoning and Inspections, ten copies of the final comprehensive 25-page Rezoning/Variance Request were officially submitted in mid September. As should be obvious from the photo below, both of us were relieved.



The Planning and Zoning Commission approved both the request for rezoning of Parcels 2 and 3 and the request for the variance in the setback and recommended the three parcels be combined. What remains is a hearing before the Board of Commissioners at 6:30 PM November 3 and a vote by the Commissioners later in the month. The Public Notice of the hearing has been erected in front of the station and a letter describing the requests and the hearing has been sent by the Board of Commissioners to all property owners in the area.

Everyone I have seen in the Office of Clerk of Superior Court, the Department of Planning, Zoning, and Inspections, the Office of the Tax Assessor, the County Department of Public Health, and the County Board of Commissioners have been very helpful. Wolfskin and I thank them for their goodwill and excellent service.

And a very special thanks to Forest Kellogg. He artfully helped me to the design solution and then surprised me with a very big reward.

- Glenn Galau