Conroe’s long-awaited fire station on the east side is finally moving forward after the City Council approved a $4.7 million construction contract using a cost-effective design-build method. Completion is expected in just over a year.
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The City Council accepted a $4.7 million contract using a streamlined design-build method on Thursday. This means that work on a long-delayed fire station on the east side of Conroe can now begin. Rising costs had earlier put the project on hold.
The new station will be at 676 FM 3083, and it will be the eighth in the city. Fire Chief Paul Sims says it should be finished in 13 months. The Houston-based SLI Group, which has already completed the station's plans, is in charge of both planning and construction with the design-build method.
The city's 2021 Capital Improvement Plan first included the fire station. The estimated cost of building it rose from $5.5 million in 2022 to $7.2 million in 2023. The board had to put the project on hold until they could find a better way to pay for it. Officials were able to lower the expected cost to $4.7 million by changing the scope and layout of the inside.
Fire Station No. 8 will resemble Fire Station No. 7 on Longmire Road, which was built in 2018, but its interior will be modified to save costs. There will be three truck bays, a kitchen, six dorms, and storage space at the station.
At the very least, Sims said, there will be three fire trucks, and a fourth truck will likely be there at different times as a backup. "There is no more room at other fire stations, and we have up to five or six reserve units."
Brett Lucksinger of SLI Group told the council that almost all bids from subcontractors have been received, which means that price increases are not likely to come as a surprise. It was not possible that anything bad would come back, he said.
Members of the council praised the teamwork that kept the project's cost down. Councilman Harry Hardman praised the careful approach to both the design and the cost control.
He said, "The fire station is something we all wanted, and now we can afford it." "I am sure we can do this again in the future."
When Councilman David Hairel asked Lucksinger how likely it was that the project's costs would go over budget, he said that they would not.
As the population of Conroe continues to grow, fire officials and city leaders are hopeful that this new station will help with equipment and room problems.
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