West Lafayette's master plan includes possible $1.5 million in repairing fire station

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A West Lafayette fire station needs extensive repairs, according to the master plan presented at Monday night's West Lafayette City Council meeting, estimated to cost around $1.5 million.

The West Lafayette Facilities Master Plan and an upcoming Discovery Park District project were both presented at this month's city council meeting.

Facilities Master Plan

The West Lafayette Facilities Master Plan presented Monday included assessments on multiple facilities in West Lafayette.

"It's not to make future plans," said Larry Oates, president of the West Lafayette Redevelopment Commission. "It is to be able to take a look at what the maintenance costs of our current buildings are. What that's going to cost us over the next 10 years, in 2023 dollars?"

Presented to the board were five assessment findings. Fire Station No. 1 was deemed as soon-to-be-needing repairs by its overall Facility Condition Index score of 0.61. A score between zero and one with zero being "perfect" and one being "rubble."

Once the condition score hits 0.65 and up, the facility is considered for demolition.

According to the master plan presentation, significant projects for Fire Station No. 1 include replacing all plumbing and piping, remodeling restrooms, renewing electrical systems, renewing all communication and security systems and more.

This facility in particular may be deemed as an important community asset and is one that may be wished to be maintained as opposed to demolished, according to the presentation. The presenter of the master plan stated that a "substantial investment" in this facility of roughly $1.5 million in order to fully restore its uses.

The Municipal Pool's condition rating is 0.73 and is labeled as "consider replacement."

Significant projects for this facility are listed as:

• Substantial repairs required for structure and exterior envelope; refurbishing restrooms; replacing piping, electrical vents and fencing

• Major pool renovations required

• Major concrete repair required

• Consider replacing municipal pool and supporting facilities

Multiple pool shell leaks are reportedly present and repairing them all would prove difficult. Similar issues with the pool building structure were also noted.

Margerum City Hall, the still relatively newly renovated building, scored a 0.00 on the FCI scale, meaning it is essentially in perfect condition.

More: Ribbon cutting for Margerum City Hall a celebration of 'the soul' of West Lafayette

Many more facilities were assessed as part of the master plan, of which the full list can be viewed online.

Overall, the greatest takeaway from the assessments is that the city's Useable Life Investment over the next 10 years will cost $7.37 million in 2023 dollars. The chart presented at the meeting does not cover soft costs, which would be another 28%.

The final informational slide in the presentation to the board stated, "All Structures Except for the Municipal Pool and Fire Station No. 1 (historic), appear to be within bounds to provide planned resolutions and maintenance to maintain properties over the next 10 years. ... Investment in resolutions over a 10-year period is plus or minus $1.0 million per year with soft costs in 2023 dollars."

"There needs to be some discussions within the city now as to what needs to be done and how they want to do it," Oates said. "The real take away from the whole thing was that it's going to be $1 million a year for the next 10 years in maintenance costs."

Beck's Barn Activation Project

Representatives from Purdue Research Foundation and DELV Design presented an upcoming project in the Discovery Park District in the form of a new-old barn coming to Squirrel Park.

Jeremy Slater, vice president of capital projects and facilities for the Purdue Research Foundation, and Sam Vonderau, an architect with DELV Design, explained how a century-old barn from Sheridan, Indiana, has been disassembled and will be reassembled in Squirrel Park for public use.

"It's basically being torn down and then relocated here to West Lafayette," Slater said

This 10,600-square-foot barn will be made up of leasable space for tenants, such as restaurants, as well as utilities including a fully functioning service dock.

"This new facility will be constructed using a salvaged historic barn structure," a presentation slide for the project lists. "The result will be a clean and modern structure with all of the requirements of a high-capacity hospitality space with the character and feel of a 100-year-old barn. The development will include a new pedestrian plaza and anchor an upgrade of Squirrel Park..."

The full site plans are also available online, but highlights to Squirrel Park include a tree grove, raised planters, a game corner, a shade pavilion and more.

"One of the key components that I've been asked a lot is, 'Can I rent this for a wedding on a weekend?' That's not our intent," Slater said. "The last thing we would want on a Friday night is for people to show up to use the space and it's reserved. That's not at all what we're intending for this space."

A new and different place to hang out that isn't in a coffee shop, at home or at work was one description of this project to come.

Slater said that the timeline for the project hopes to have the barn and its tenants established and open for public use by Fall 2024.

City Council President Peter Bunder voted against this project, voicing his concerns for the lack of student housing within West Lafayette as his reason for doing so. Council member David Sanders abstained from the vote, later telling the Journal & Courier that he saw both positives and negatives with the barn being an in-kind donation to vote one way or the other.

Tobacco ordinance

An ordinance sponsored and presented by Sanders regarded the use of tobacco products in certain public places.

Specifically, this ordinance dictates, "Smoking shall be prohibited in the following public places and other public places similarly situated, including, but not limited to, the following areas: …the area within fifteen (15) feet of a public entrance to: (A) a public place; or (B) a place of employment."

This ordinance barely passed with council members Nick DeBoer and James Blanco abstaining and members Kathy Parker and Gerald Thomas voting against the ordinance.

During his presentation, Sanders stated that he is bringing this ordinance to the board due to a complaint about smoking around public entrances that was brought to his attention.

Most of those who did not vote in favor of the ordinance spoke with the Journal & Courier regarding their vote.

"I haven't been bothered by smoke (from tobacco) in a doorway in at least a decade," Parker said. "So I just didn't see why we're coming up with an ordinance. It felt to me like coming up with a law in search of a problem."

"I look at trends," Thomas said, "and one individual is not a trend in my opinion. Until we do a market research study that says (smoking near public entrances is a public problem), and maybe it is, but we haven't done that study. And so why propose and ordinance just to propose an ordinance."

DeBoer stated his reasoning for abstaining was due problems he sees with the ordinance's enforcement.

"I'm apprehensive about extending the criminal code to things I don't think are really enforceable," DeBoer said. "If you're upset with somebody (for smoking) and you're like, 'Hold on, wait while the police show up to catch you,' the person will just leave the situation. I just kind of have a problem with increasing the criminal code in that way."

Margaret Christopherson is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email her at mchristopherson@jconline.com and follow her on Twitter @MargaretJC2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: West Lafayette's master plan includes $1.5M in repairing fire station