The City of Chehalis has its sights set on a property along Bishop Road to serve as an interim south-end Chehalis Fire Department station and possibly the site of a brand new permanent station somewhere down the road.
The Chehalis City Council approved a resolution to purchase a nearly 7-acre property along Bishop Road to establish a short-term fire station to serve the city’s newly annexed territory on Monday night.
The vote approved the first reading of the resolution. It will come back to the council for final approval during the council’s next meeting scheduled for Monday, Nov. 23.
The resolution is the first step in authorizing the purchase, which Chehalis Fire Chief Adam Fulbright told the council would cost $1 million, including both the purchase price and closing costs.
Fulbright plans to bring additional information on potential financing options to the council during the council’s next meeting.
“We are presenting the resolution to the council for approval to provide the funding and acquisition of the property located in 1941 Bishop,” Fulbright told the council. “We have successfully negotiated with the property owners for voluntary acquisition at $1 million.”
According to the fire chief, the city’s best options are either a commercial loan or an interfund loan borrowing the money from another city fund.
City Manager Stacy Denham appeared to have a slight preference for an interfund loan, explaining after the meeting that any interest on the loan would be paid into a city fund rather than an outside lender.
The property located on Bishop Road sits between Jackson Highway and Rich Road and comes with three existing structures. On Monday, Fulbright told the council it was one of “approximately five pieces of property” the city considered. The city looked at other properties in the same area and considered a lease agreement with the Port of Chehalis, but decided the Bishop Road property was the “most ideal.”
“The structures on the property provide us the least expensive modification to house emergency response apparatus,” Fulbright told the council. “And the structure for temporary living of firefighters is also ideal and provides us the least amount of remodel, allowing us to set up operations relatively fast in 2027.”
The property has a home on it and what appears to be an accessory dwelling unit as well as a large nearby garage or shop. Fulbright also described the parcel as “high and dry,” and urged the council to consider that as a cost savings since the city would not have to conduct any studies on wetland mitigation.
Fulbright told The Chronicle after the meeting that the property’s size and road access would allow the department to build a new station without damaging the current structures, meaning there would be no interruption to service if the city decided to construct a station on the land. The large plot could also have enough space to serve other city departments, such as Public Works.
“It also affords an opportunity to be able to expand some of the things we also will need in the south end as far as a location for Public Works, some police department location for some things that they have to do in the future as well,” Denham added during the meeting.
According to the conversation during the Monday council meeting, the council requested that staff extend an offer to purchase a fire station belonging to Lewis County Fire Protection District 6 during the search process. The station, known as station 61, sits at the corner of Jackson Highway and Southwest 21st Street and serves much of the recently annexed south end of Chehalis.
The city offered $4.2 million for the building. Fire district staff confirmed that the district turned down the offer after a period of consideration and some back and forth.
Denham told the council the district had “kindly rejected selling the property” on the grounds that the sum would not be enough to properly outfit or upgrade the district's other properties. With that, Denham urged the council to move forward with the property purchase.
“I think, all in all, the property that we’re looking at now on Bishop Road offers kind of the best of both worlds,” Denham said.
Expediency is important to the city in propping up a south-end substation, largely because of a legal settlement with Lewis County Fire Protection Districts 5 and 6. The settlement, developed over the summer in response to lawsuits from both districts, ensured the districts would cease opposition to the city’s annexation efforts. In return, the city agreed to service contracts with both districts.
The service contracts require the city to compensate the districts for emergency services provided to the annexed area. According to a draft version of the settlement previously reported by The Chronicle, that includes a mandatory $750,000 payment for 2027. Beyond 2027, the city can escape those payments, which increase in value annually, if it has established a substation that meets service criteria laid out by the settlement and passes an inspection by a neutral third party.
For previous reporting by The Chronicle on the settlement between the city and the two fire protection districts, visit https://tinyurl.com/5c3pev4d.
