Capital Funding Request Executive Summary
The Woodburn Fire District (WFD) is requesting $5,070,710 of capital funding for the development of a new fire station in Gervais that will improve fire protection and emergency medical response to an underserved community, help meet the regional needs for large scale disaster preparedness and response, and address the requirements of the extensive industrial development and population growth that is occurring in the region.
Project Matching Funds
The WFD Board of Directors has allocated $2,529,811 of district bond funds for the construction of the Gervais Fire Station & Regional Disaster Preparedness Facility. The bond revenue has been collected and is ready for disbursement. The total project cost is $7,600,521.
Project Timeline
This project is shovel ready. Five acres of land have been purchased by the fire district in the Gervais community and the site has been approved for a fire station by Marion County Land Development. The project start is planned for early 2024. The project general contractor and the architectural and engineering firms have been selected and have provided concept drawings, site plans and detailed cost estimates.
Improve Emergency Response to National Standards
The Gervais community that is 81% Hispanic is currently underserved for emergency response to fire and medical emergencies. The establishment of the new fire station will improve response times from the current (10) minutes to less than (4) minutes which will allow compliance with national response time standards that improve life safety for residents of the Gervais community. Additionally, the proximity of the fire station site to existing and planned traffic arterials will allow rapid response from this location to all areas of the 75 square mile fire district as well as mutual-aid responses to neighboring fire districts in the surrounding region.
Preparation for Extensive Industrial Development & Population Growth
The Gervais fire station site is also well positioned to serve the future emergency response needs of the rapidly expanding residential and industrial areas of south and west Woodburn. With more than 3,300 new housing units under development, the current fire district population of 39,000 residents is expected to increase by 20% over the next 5-10 years. The project site is approximately 1 mile from the 3.8 million square foot Amazon warehouse and is adjacent to the industrial urban growth expansion area being requested by Woodburn.
Provide CERT Facility for Large Scale Disaster Preparedness and Response
The requested funding will provide a facility that will leverage the equipment and personnel resources of the 50 member WFD volunteer CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) that will strengthen the regional disaster preparedness and response capability to large scale emergencies in the following ways:
- ¨ Regional Center for Fire Skills & Disaster Preparedness Training
- ¨ Emergency Evacuation Center / Gervais Community Meeting Room
- ¨ Woodburn/Gervais CERT Program Administrative Office Space & Disaster Response Equipment Storage
- ¨ Regional Emergency Fuel Storage & Distribution Facility
- ¨ Regional OEM SPIRE Grant Funded Portable Water Distribution Trailer Staging and Support