[Press Release] : Columbia Fire Department announces groundbreaking ceremony for Fire Station No. 7

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Battalion Chief Steven E. Sapp - Public Information Officer -
(573) 499-7035

Columbia Fire Department announces groundbreaking ceremony for Fire
Station No. 7

COLUMBIA, MO (January 8, 2008) - The Columbia Fire Department invites
citizens and soon-to-be neighbors to the groundbreaking for Columbia
Fire Station No. 7 on Thursday, Jan. 10, at 8 a.m. at 400 Green Meadows
Circle. The site is on the northeast corner of Green Meadows Road and
Green Meadows Circle. 

Columbia Fire Station No. 7 is being repositioned to a new site after
voters approved the project which was included in a ¼ cent Capital
Improvement Sales Tax Extension ballot issue in November 2005. 

The current building, which houses Fire Station No. 7, at 3601 South
Providence Road has developed structural issues which were estimated to
cost up to $300,000 to repair. In addition, the site of the building has
changed since the station was built and opened in 1973. The intersection
of Providence and Nifong now includes medians and the traffic volume has
increased dramatically. Also, when Fire Station No. 8 opened in 2001, it
was built on available land a little farther east than originally
planned. This meant that the run areas for Station No. 8 and the current
Station No. 7 overlapped. With the new site, about ½ mile west of the
current site, run areas and response times are expected to improve. 

In addition, the new station will feature drive through bays which
allow for safer apparatus movement in that fire apparatus will not have
to stop in the roadway and back into the equipment bays. The new three
bay apparatus areas will also allow more efficient storage of reserve
and specialty apparatus. 

The property was purchased from a local developer at a cost of
$287,647. In response to neighborhood concerns, an adjoining tract of
land was purchased later at a cost of $110,585. The sizes of the lots
are two acres m/l.

GBH Builders Inc., based in Jefferson City, Mo., was the successful
bidder for the project. The project cost is $1,766,678. Mechanical
engineering services are being provided by CM Engineering of Columbia.
Civil and structural engineering is being provided by Trabue, Hansen &
Hinshaw of Columbia.

A future Percent for Art project will be announced soon. In addition,
the building and site has been designed and is expected to qualify as a
LEED certified project. 

Speakers at the ceremony on Thursday will include Mayor Darwin Hindman,
5th Ward Councilperson Laura Nauser and Fire Chief William Markgraf. The
Columbia Chamber of Commerce ambassadors will also be present. 

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