Sun City West Fire District slates renovations on Station 102

Sun City West fire officials discussed plans Tuesday for a nearly $2 million renovation project for Station 102 at 20622 Stardust Blvd.

The district's governing board will vote on the guaranteed maximum price of the project at its regular meeting Thursday.

The plans call for complete renovations to the 18-year-old station. Fire officials will send the building plans back to the county by next week for a second review. That process may take up to six weeks, Deputy Fire Chief Jim Heger said.

"We anticipate starting construction this summer and expect it to take 12 to 14 months to complete construction," he said.

Kevin Benson, president of Integrity Building Corp., shared some changes to project estimates with board members during Tuesday's workshop meeting. Costs for several facets of the project have increased from original estimates because of county requirements, he said.

"Basically there are two major things that have driven the costs here - the changes in the code and the interpretation by the county," he said. "There have been some code changes where you have to start retaining your water. The (county) is making us retain all of our water on site."

The county drainage requirements and safety codes as well as rising plumbing costs have upped the overall price tag by about $85,000 compared to preliminary estimates in December, Benson said.

Fire Chief Robert Biscoe said he believed the overall project would be completed for less than $2 million, however.

"We've thrown the number $2 million around, and we're trying to stay as far under that as we possibly can. I think we can be closer to the $1.9 million," he said.

Heger said the guaranteed maximum price that fire officials will present to the board on Thursday is $1,975,000.

The upcoming project marks the second major renovation for the district in recent years as renovations to Station 101 were completed in February.

Fire officials plan to showcase the new digs at Station 101 at an open house from 9 a.m. to noon Friday. The station is at 19001 Camino del Sol.

The board will vote to adopt the 2008-2009 budget at Thursday's regular meeting, which will begin at 9 a.m. at the district's administrative office at 18818 N. Spanish Garden Drive. The meeting is open to the public.