The city of San Diego may soon issue a permit to build a new fire station in Mid-City.
Environmentalists and neighborhood residents who have long fought the location of the project are once again raising concerns, saying this may be their last chance to preserve the natural habitat.
“It feels like we’re really coming close to the end of the road with being able to study alternative sites,” said Charles Rilli, deputy director of Sierra Club’s San Diego chapter.
The proposed site is on a steep canyon at 47th Street and Fairmount Avenue, a place considered a creekside, natural wildlife habitat.
To build the four-story fire station and a 15-space parking lot, vegetation would need to be removed and an artificial slope would need to be created, as well as grading, according to city documents. Access to the site would be provided by two driveways off 47th Street. The city’s most recent projected cost for the fire station is $28 million, more than double the 2014 project cost estimate.
The city has long identified the need for a fire station in southern City Heights “to better mitigate the fire risk based on the area's population density, wildfire potential, and typical roadway congestion,” according to the city.
The Fairmount Avenue site was selected as the preferred site among six others, including a police shooting range and a vacant lot on Federal Avenue.
But Rilli said the city did not pursue the other sites as meticulously as the Fairmount location.
“For example, (the city) said that one site was not for sale ten years ago when they first looked at it,” he said. “Well, since then that site has been sold. So, for us, I think that there are alternative sites that are close by that would not change the response time.”
He said residents and environmental groups are in support of building a new fire station, but “this location is not the right location.”
“It would really be destructive for the wildlife that use this as connectivity, as a place for wildlife to live,” he added. “We have very busy streets and highways and this park here, this watershed, is really able to hold a place for wildlife to live and to thrive.”
Residents of the adjacent Leisureland mobile home park are also opposed to the location. Besides creating noise in a quiet retirement community, they worry about emergency vehicles on 47th Street, one of the community’s main entrances and exits.
They also worry about losing a beloved place to recreate.
“We watch out for our coyotes that are in our community,” said Sharon Harich, a Leisureland resident. “We've made little cans, shaker cans to let them know we're here so we don't, you know, scare each other. We love watching the birds. We have so many birds come here that are unique, that are not normally even from this area, because it's a good habitat. So a lot of that is going to change.”
Opponents say the city council should consider other sites before greenlighting the location.
The city has yet to complete the final environmental review of the project and issue a permit, which should be ready “in the next few months,” said city spokesperson Tyler Becker.
After the city finalizes an environmental report for the project, the public has 10 days to appeal.
