Image via Google Maps
Fire Station No. 41 at Preston and Royal made Dallas Fire and Rescue’s priority list for replacement.
The new fire station would cost $11.3 million and be paid for with 2017 bond funds.
The overall list of projects the department says it needs totals $220 million and would include 19 replacement stations and four new stations. But the department presented a list of 10 priority construction projects totaling $82.6 million to City Council members this week.
The projects could be funded if voters approve a referendum next May in which the city could acquire $600-$800 million in general obligation bonds.
Station No. 41, at 5920 Royal Lane, was built in 1959, and it’s outdated. The department’s standards call for about 1,200 square feet of space, three full apparatus bays and one half bay, plus a decontamination room and a public lobby and restroom, among other items.
The old building has insufficient sewer lines, too few parking spaces and a general lack of space for storage, training and living, among other problems.
Preliminary plans call for tearing down the station and building on the same lot.
City Councilwoman Jennifer Gates suggested that finding another location for the station could be a better option, although land is very expensive in that area. Traffic is so heavy on Royal that it sometimes delays response times. Gates also noted that fire station No. 27 ,on Northwest Highway between Preston and the Dallas North Tollway, took too long to build. It opened in 2015, two-and-a-half years behind schedule, with two stories and an underground parking garage on the same site as the previous station.
