The Santa Rosa City Council approved a new fire station site in the Fountaingrove neighborhood Tuesday night, saying public safety outweighed neighbors' concerns about noise, traffic and aesthetics.
The project has prompted public debate in the wake of comments by some opponents that fire stations do not belong in upscale, hillside developments.
However, the council unanimously rejected an appeal of the Planning Commission's approval of the project, calling it important to improving emergency response times in the fire prone area.
Citing their personal experiences with fast-moving fires, council members said their obligation was not just to the concerns of those in the immediate vicinity of the new station but to the 6,000 residents who live in the area.
"People's lives and their life's savings is really what we are talking about," said Councilwoman Jane Bender. "I think this is critical for the safety of Santa Rosa."
The city has been planning for about six years to locate a new station on a 1.1-acre city-owned parcel at the intersection of Newgate Court and Fountaingrove Parkway. The two-bay, 5,600-square-foot firehouse would be tucked into the hillside at the base of a 60-foot city-owned water tower. It would replace the station on Parker Hill Road, which would be sold.
Some residents objected to how visible the station would be, but such comments found little sympathy given the number of large, highly visible ridge top homes in the area.
Station supporter Tim Doherty said he found concerns about its size to be "interesting since several of the homes in the area dwarf the fire station."
Newgate Court resident William St. Pierre appealed the Planning Commission's April ruling. He said he never knew when he put down a deposit for his house that a station was planned for next door. Despite a large sign on the property since 2004, he said he didn't pay much attention to it.
"I can pretty much tell you that I wouldn't be standing here today if we had seen that. We wouldn't have bought the house," he said.
His wife, Okhyang Kim, offered to trade houses with any of the council members who thought the station wouldn't have an impact on the neighborhood.
"I go to your house, you can take my house," Kim said.
Some residents said they supported a station but never imagined it would face Newgate Court, a narrow side street, instead of Fountaingrove Parkway.
Planner Noah Housh called that an "unfortunate assumption," but said that orientation was never considered because of the topography.
Residents concerned that fire trucks would be racing down Wedgewood Way also wanted the council to make it a condition of approval of the project that fire fighters agree not to use that side street regularly.
Bruce Varner said he didn't want any such prohibition in writing, but sought to quell such fears.
"We will not be using Wedgewood as any type of normal response route," he said.
Varner added that the $3 million federal grant the department had applied for to help fund construction of the station was rejected Monday afternoon, meaning the city will have to raise funds other ways.
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