Encinitas fire station replacement making headway

ENCINITAS —- On the ground and in the City Council’s chambers, action is scheduled next week to advance a 12 million program to replace the city’s three oldest fire stations.

ENCINITAS —- On the ground and in the City Council’s chambers, action is scheduled next week to advance a $12 million program to replace the city’s three oldest fire stations.

On Tuesday, workers are scheduled to begin installing 355 feet of sewer pipe on Orpheus Avenue to serve Fire Station No. 3, the first facility to be replaced.

On Wednesday, the City Council is scheduled to consider awarding a $195,000 contract to Barnhart Inc. to manage the planned station’s construction, a yearlong job expected to begin in August or September.

In addition to replacing the 30-year-old Orpheus station in Leucadia, the city plans to replace stations in downtown Encinitas and Cardiff, at a cost of $4 million each.

All three stations are west of Interstate 5.

“We’re really trying to step carefully because we know this is a long-term project,” Division Chief Scott Henry said Friday. “We don’t want to build something we don’t need or not build something we do need.”

If hired by the city, the San Diego-based Barnhart firm would review construction documents and set schedules, city records show. A company representative would attend and take minutes from pre-construction meetings. During construction, a Barnhart employee would provide daily management on the job site.

The city employs a construction manager at the site of the Encinitas Community Library, a $20 million project.

“They’re an essential element of any big project,” said Richard Phillips, assistant to the city manager.

A small component of the Orpheus job is the installation of a sewer pipe to the site. Since it opened in 1978, the Orpheus station has sent its sewage to septic tanks.

When the $102,000 sewer-line installation begins Tuesday, Orpheus Avenue between Puebla and Fulvia streets will be closed to through traffic during the work day, contractor Don Hubbard, Jr., said Friday.

In the fall, when the Orpheus station is razed, firefighters will live in trailers parked on city property just east of the station, Henry said.

At 7,256 square feet, the new facility will be more than twice as big as the old one.

After that job is finished, the next station in line for replacement is Fire Station No. 2 in Cardiff. The station is planned on city-owned property on Birmingham Drive, just west of Interstate 5 and about one block west of the existing station on Mackinnon Avenue. That station was built in 1960.

Station No. 1, on Second Street, would be the final facility to be replaced. It opened in 1957 and is the city’s oldest.

“We’re trying to make sure the construction process goes as smoothly as possible and disrupts as few people as possible,” Henry said.