Simone Carter
The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)
(TNS)
Sep. 1—Looks like South Tacoma may be getting a new fire station.
The Metro Parks board decided Aug. 26 to approve the sale and surplus of a parcel of undeveloped property on the South End Recreation & Adventure campus, according to a news release. Commissioners voted unanimously to allow the sale to the city.
The 2.27 acres are situated near South 58th and South Tyler streets, about a half-mile distance from the existing Fire Station 7 at 5448 S. Warner St., per the release.
“We evaluated this proposal not only on the basis of public safety needs in South Tacoma, but also for the opportunity this provides to more equitably distribute park resources within this area of our city,” Metro Parks board President Andrea Smith said in the news release. “We believe this decision is in the best interests of our community’s overall well-being.”
City spokesperson Maria Lee told The News Tribune that it’s her understanding the park board’s approval of the sale will be presented in October to the Tacoma City Council.
The 75-acre SERA campus houses a Metro Parks sports complex with a sprayground and playground, plus tennis courts and fields. The Boys & Girls Club’s Hope Center, the STAR Center and Gray Middle School are also located there.
“The parcel in question currently is partially fenced due to misuse and dumping,” according to Metro Parks.
Driving the board’s decision was a fairly straightforward argument: Fire Station 7, built in 1959, isn’t big enough, as noted in a 2023 facilities-needs assessment conducted by the city. The station also can’t be extended since it shares a location with the South Tacoma Library Branch.
Excluding property acquisition, the new station is estimated to cost $21.5 million, according to the city’s 2024 Fire Facilities Master Plan. However, funding for the project hasn’t been identified.
The price tag for renovating the old station would be $2 million, according to the plan.
The acreage in question counts an assessed value of $870,000, according to the news release. Money from the sale would boost equitable access to green spaces by supporting future South Tacoma-park development.
This isn’t the first time that Metro Parks and the city have teamed up on such an effort. Authorities previously chose to place police substations at Wapato and Stewart Heights parks, as well as the Center at Norpoint, according to the news release.
Also of note is the fact that the campus can act as a crisis-command site when catastrophes like natural disasters strike, the news release states. The existing station responds to an area that logs some 3,500 emergencies annually — well over the department’s 2,500-call target standard.
However, the effort has attracted criticism.
Some think that Metro Parks shouldn’t transfer any land, The News Tribune reported last August. Another major area of concern: Tree removal and its effect on temperatures in South Tacoma.
Metro Parks highlighted a tree survey in the news release, stating that there would be “minimal tree removal impact.” Two trees would be added to the SERA campus for every one that is felled.
What would happen to Tacoma’s existing Fire Station 7?
The old Station 7 would be converted into an ambulance station, said Chelsea Shepherd, Tacoma Fire Department spokesperson. The new facility, meanwhile, would house an ambulance and an engine. (The current station is staffed with one engine, The News Tribune previously reported.)
Many of the calls that Fire Station 7 tends to are medical in nature, Shepherd said. Its engine covers both medical calls and fires, so the new station would act to add two EMS vehicles to the area and help free up the engine for non-medical emergencies.
Stations 10 and 8 are the closest fire facilities to Station 7, Shepherd said. Station 10 is 3 miles away from the existing Station 7 while Station 8 is 1.5 miles away, according to Google Maps.
Metro Parks spokesperson Stacia Glenn said via email that there won’t be any immediate changes to the SERA property. Getting the land secured was just the first crucial step. She also highlighted an increase in demand for South Tacoma EMS and fire response.
Looking ahead, the new station on SERA’s northwest corner would offer residents better response times and park safety, Glenn told the newspaper.
“Metro Parks is committed to using proceeds from this land surplus and sale to increase our park level of service through acquisition and development of new neighborhood park amenities in South Tacoma,” Glenn continued, “which will help us reach our goal of having every person in Tacoma live within a 10-minute walk of a park.”
TFD and the city have completed the new station’s conceptual plan, Glenn said. The facility’s engineering and final design, though, have not been finished.
The station’s design is what will help guide how many trees will be cut down — and city permitting and state environmental law will steer replacement and removal requirements, Glenn said.
“Metro Parks has a standard practice of replacing every tree removed with two new trees planted and has committed to supplementing the tree replacement required for this project with additional trees to meet that standard,” Glenn said, adding that the new trees’ species, size and definitive location on the SERA campus are yet to be decided.
Tacoma is home to 17 in-use fire stations, according to Metro Parks, as well as nine support facilities.
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