Three new fire stations will be built in the growing city of Mesa, Arizona if voters in November give a thumbs up to a $157 million bond proposal.
Ballot Question Number 2, if approved, would appropriate a total of $60.4 million for the construction of two new fire department facilities: Northeast Fire Station 223 and Southeast Fire Station 224, both to go up on land already owned by the city.
Both facilities, according to city documents, will have four bays.
Officials say the new stations are a response to a population growth seeing Mesa go from 396,000 two decades ago to nearly 510,00 people today.
A third fire department project to be funded by the bond will see the demolition of the existing Fire Station 205, which is located at 730 S. Greenfield Road on the east side of the city. That one-story, two-bay facility is thought to be no longer adequate for today’s fire department needs.
According to a bond information guide published by the city, a new facility to replace Fire Station 205 will be built at the same site in order to meet the “needs of the citizens as well as the fire department.”
The last similar bond proposal to make it to the Mesa ballot was in 2018, when voters, by a 59% to 41% margin, gave the green light to a $196 million package for fire and police facility work, as well as park upgrades.
By Garry Boulard
