Two-minute impact
During the Feb. 28 board meeting, township members received an update regarding work on the rebuilding of Fire Station No. 5 and expansion of the Emergency Training Center in The Woodlands, which is located at 16135 I-45 S.
The new fire station will be 23,000 square feet in size and located on a new piece of property, which is still being negotiated, Buck said. The Emergency Training Center will rehabilitate 12,000 square feet of existing space and add an additional 3,000 square feet.
Buck said the construction on the fire station is slated to begin over the summer, with a groundbreaking to be scheduled in June.
“We are within a week of signing a contract with Brookstone as our construction management,” Buck said. “In that contract, they'll be able to go out for bid and start working with subcontractors to start the emergency training facility. We hope to break ground on that in the very near future.”
What else?
Director of Intergovernmental Relations Todd Stephens also said to the board the township would seek $1.5 million in federal appropriation funding through U.S. Rep Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, to assist in covering the cost of construction for the new fire station.
The Woodlands Township originally budgeted $12 million for the rebuild of Fire Station No. 5 and the Emergency Training Center. However, pandemic delays caused the cost of the project to rise to $14.6 million, Buck said.
“We have been working back and forth with our architect and our construction manager to right size the project and bring it mostly within budget,” Buck said.
