The new Metro Fire Station No. 23 will include five apparatus bays; administrative and command functions; fitness facilities; firefighter living quarters for up to 15 personnel; decontamination facilities; support spaces; and associated site improvements. Image courtesy of COAR Design Group

 

CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - The Citrus Heights Planning Commission is currently reviewing a Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District proposal to demolish the obsolete 61-year-old, one-story, three-bay fire station at 6421 Greenback Lane and replace it with a modern, operationally effective, 19,500-square-foot, two-story, five-bay facility better designed to serve the needs of a modern city.

“Metro Fire Station No. 23 (built in 1965) has served the community well, but it has reached the end of its life expectancy,” said Capt. Mark Nunez, Metro Fire public information officer and community relations manager.

If approved by the Citrus Heights Planning Commission, demolition of the existing station could take place next summer, Nunez said. Construction of the new station would take approximately 18 months to complete, he added.

Fire apparatus and personnel currently stationed at Metro Fire Station No. 23 would be dispersed to other Metro Fire stations within the city during the period of construction, he said. The likely dispersal wouldn’t impact Metro Fire’s incident response time, he said.

While Metro Fire Station No. 23 is now being scheduled for replacement with a modern facility, the location of the original central station of the Citrus Heights Fire District, now Sacramento Metro Fire Station No. 21 at 7641 Greenback Lane is likely to be scheduled next for replacement, he said. This station was built in the late 1960s when Greenback Lane was just a two-lane road.

Nunez said the new station “will improve operational readiness, emergency response efficiency and Metro Fire's ability to provide critical life-safety services to the community.”

The existing station simply has reached the end of its useful life and no longer adequately supports modern firefighting operations, emergency medical response, firefighter health and safety practices, and doesn’t have the necessary physical capacity to meet the city’s growing needs, according to Metro Fire.

“The current single-floor station didn’t lend itself to remodeling, and given its lot size, the only way to go was up – demolish the current building, and build a new one, adding a second floor,” he said.

The new Metro Fire Station No. 23 will include five apparatus bays; administrative and command functions; fitness facilities; separate firefighter living quarters for up to 15 personnel; decontamination facilities; support spaces; and other general site improvements.

Metro Fire Station No. 3, located on the south side of Greenback Lane, is located on approximately one acre within the city’s RD-20 zoning district. The district requests approval from the Citrus Heights Planning Commission of a variance to allow a reduced east side-yard setback associated with the proposed new fire station building. Image courtesy of COAR Design Group

Nunez said a typical Metro Fire station accommodates multiple large emergency response vehicles, including a ladder truck approximately 61 feet in length, fire engines, medic units and Battalion Chief vehicles which are all necessary for emergency response operations, he said.

In addition, each fire station must also accommodate living quarters for 15 firefighters per shift, administrative space, apparatus support functions, and parking required for shift overlap and emergency staffing.

Metro Fire Station No. 3, located on the south side of Greenback Lane, is located on approximately one acre within the city’s RD-20 zoning district. The district requests approval from the Citrus Heights Planning Commission of a variance to allow a reduced east side-yard setback associated with the proposed new fire station building.

The Citrus Heights Zoning Code (CHZC) requires a 30-foot side-yard setback for a two-story structure in the RD-20 zoning district.

The requested zoning variance is warranted due to the unique physical constraints of the property and the specialized operational requirements associated with emergency response services, Metro Fire contends.

“Unlike conventional residential or commercial development, fire stations must accommodate specialized apparatus with significant turning radii, emergency ingress and egress requirements, and operational clearances that cannot be reduced without compromising public safety and emergency response effectiveness,” Nunez said.

Project documents were prepared for Metro Fire in June by the Santa Rosa office of the COAR Design Group, an architecture and design firm specializing in the design of public safety projects. COAR has designed and built fire stations for the cities of Oceanside, Vista, Escondido, Chula Vista, Sausalito, Garden Grove, Del Mar, Pleasanton and Fresno.

The proposed project design provides an approximately 5-foot setback along the east property line. According to Metro Fire, the zoning variance, if approved, wouldn’t alter the “fundamental land use designation,” or increase any development intensity.

Due to the narrow dimensions of the one-acre fire station parcel, which measures approximately 150 feet in width and approximately 343 feet in depth, a reduction of the side-yard setback is essential to accommodate fire apparatus access standards, safe turning radii, and adequate apparatus bay width that cannot be achieved if the standard setbacks were applied, wrote Metro Fire.

“While the proposed design generally complies with building height, floor area lot coverage, front setback, and rear setback requirements, the narrow configuration of the property creates limitations that are not typical of similarly zoned properties,” according to project design narrative submitted by the COAR Design Group.

“The requested setback reduction now before the Planning Commission enables the construction of a modern facility capable of supporting current emergency response operations, modern firefighting apparatus, firefighter wellness standards, and future service demands,” Metro Fire stated.

The proposal to build new Metro Fire Station No. 23 at 6421 Greenback Lane is under revision by the applicant (Metro Fire) and has not yet been scheduled for Planning Commission review, said Marisa Brown, city communications officer.

The Metro Fire Station 23 Replacement was funded in Metro Fire’s Measure O General Obligation Bond, which was approved by voters in 2024.