Jordan Travis
The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
(TNS)
Aug. 29—MAPLETON — Peninsula Township Fire Department needs to replace its outdated, undersized Station 1, according to department Chief Fred Gilstorff.
Township trustees recently approved a contract with Environment Architects to complete building design and Gourdie-Fraser for engineering, Peninsula Supervisor Isaiah Wunsch said.
There’s still time for township residents to weigh in on the project, which could require raising taxes.
“I think the way that the chief (Gilstorff) wants to move forward with the project and the board has approved it will allow for a lot of public input during the coming months to make sure that whatever we replace the current Station 1 with is a reasonable plan that meets the current and future needs of the community,” Wunsch said.
Currently, the department operates out of three buildings, with Station 1 sitting a mile north of the township hall in Mapleton, according to the department and road maps.
That building dates to 1946, plus an addition from 1981, Gilstorff said. There’s not enough room for either firefighters or their equipment, and space is so tight the department has to keep its trailered boat and the truck that tows it parked outside in the elements during the summer.
Gisltorff highlighted numerous other issues in a recent presentation to township trustees, from outdated and inefficient heating systems to lack of space to train personnel and interact with the public.
“We try to do the best we can with what we have,” he said Wednesday. “It doesn’t meet the standard of where we want the fire department to go.”
Preliminary plans call for a new station just north of the township hall, Gilstorff said. The new building would have 15,000- to 17,000-square-feet of usable space, four garage stalls and quarters for four firefighters. Other features would include a kitchen, locker rooms, training space for education, exercise and to practice techniques, offices and space to interact with the public.
Architects working with the township figured the building would cost roughly $8 million, Gilstorff said. The township won’t know the actual cost until contractors bid to build the fire station, so he cautioned the number is an assumption for now.
Peninsula Township would have to increase its fire services’ special assessment to pay for the new station, Gilstorff said. Trustees would likely have to bump up that levy — currently at 2.6 mills — by no more than 0.5 mill.
State law allows township voters to approve fire and police protection special assessments for up to 10 mills, as previously reported. Township leaders can then raise the levy within that amount without putting it to voters.
Wunsch said he understands the need to replace Station 1, and as one responsible for ensuring the township spends its money responsibly, he wouldn’t support a “Band-Aid fix.”
“But at the same time, I think there’s still plenty of time and space for community dialogue on what the replacement should and will look like,” he said.
That could include reviewing building designs and thinking of ways to either curb project costs, find state or federal grants, or both, Wunsch said. He encouraged any township resident concerned about a potential tax increase to weigh in on the overall process.
Gilstorff said he hoped any township resident questioning the need to pay more taxes will understand the current facility doesn’t meet the needs of a growing department.
“This is nothing new, it’s been talked about, according to the records I’ve seen here in the fire department, for the last 20 years,” he said. “It’s been mentioned and brought to the township board that it needs to be replaced, and it’s been just kind of put on the back burner, and I feel that now is the time to make it happen.”
That’s in light of construction costs that continue to rise, Gilstorff added.
Once building plans are complete, the department will ask the township planning commission for a special-use permit, he said. Township planners, then trustees, should make their decision on that by January. After trustees approve seeking bids, then authorizing a contract, construction could begin in May or June 2025.
Station 1’s replacement would be the second new building for the department. In 2021, Peninsula Township Fire Department built Station 3 to cut down on response times in the township’s north end. The 3,200-square-foot building, on Center Road between Swaney and Tompkins roads, cost just short of $1 million to build. It’s part of Gilstorff’s efforts to improve the department since joining in 2017.
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