This is Northport Now, where we bring you everything happening in and around our city. From a new city park to the Point Seta Parade and Festival to a construction update on Fire Station 81, we've got you covered. Here's what you need to know this week. >> [music]
>> Northport Parks and Recreation broke ground on the city's newest park last week. The future Bokeh Chica neighborhood park will be located in the 1600 block of Bokh Chica Avenue off North Chamberlain Boulevard. As Northport has grown, the city has identified this as one of the areas lacking access to parks and recreation
amenities. The new park is being built as part of the city's capital improvement program. It's being funded by park impact fees paid by developers. Okachica Neighborhood Park will be primarily a passive park with low impact recreational opportunities such as nature observation, walking, and
enjoyment of open space. You can follow updates on the construction progress online at northportfl.gov/curren projects. Join us for a festive celebration of the holiday season at the annual poinsetta parade and festival. This year's theme, Once Upon a Northport Holiday, invites
the community to step into a storybook celebration filled with holiday magic. The event will be held on Saturday, December 6th, beginning with the festival starting at 3 p.m. at City Center Front Green. There will be a craft workshop, food vendors, live entertainment, and a chance to meet
Santa himself. A free shuttle will be available with additional parking at the Morgan Family Community Center. Then at 5:00 p.m., the Northport Parade will set off down Sumpter Boulevard, traveling south, and ending back at the City Center front green, where the festival continues. Get event updates and safety
alerts directly on your phone by texting parade 25 to the number 888777. And don't forget the city's 12 days of giving drive by bringing canned goods, toys, or hygiene products to benefit local families in need. We can't wait to
see you there. Here's the latest on [music] the Price Boulevard widening project. The city's contractor is making substantial progress on the double barrel box culvert that's being constructed at the Blue Ridge Waterway. The south side of the waterway crossing is complete and work on the north side
is well underway. After the culvert is complete, the road will be replaced. The section of Price between Main Street and Southford Boulevard remains closed to through traffic while this work takes place. We ask that you please follow the posted detour routes and stay clear of the construction zone for your safety.
This upgrade significantly improves the capacity for storm water and should help mitigate possible flooding when a storm occurs. Additionally, the improved crossing has been hardened to reduce the risk of the road collapsing or being damaged by a storm. Price Boulevard is expected to reopen to traffic in late
December. You can watch a video on the construction progress on the city's YouTube page or by visiting northportfl.gov. /price. If you have questions or need additional info, contact the project team at pricewidening info@northportfl.gov
or by calling 941-240-6960. [music] You may be seeing some changes to fire station 81 over the next few weeks. Here to tell us more about it is Northport Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Nick Hurley. >> Here, just do from here. Here to tell us more about it is Northport Fire Rescue
Deputy Chief Nick Hurley. Chief, thanks for joining us. >> Thanks for having me. >> All right, so let us know what is going on right now with Fire Station 81. >> So right now we have the crews removed from the fire station. Administration has moved out of the fire station and we
have the beginning stages of the decommissioning of the building as well as the demolition of the building which should start in a few weeks. >> Okay. and a decision was made to rather than renovate or repair the station a couple years ago to now replace the
entire station. Is that correct? What went into that decision? >> Yeah, that's correct. The project started in 2017, we recognized that we needed more space for our growing staff. So, the project started out as a remodel. And as we worked through that
process of doing a remodel, we came to the end of that project process and then we got hit by Hurricane Ian. The remodel was below the threshold to be required to bring everything up to the new code.
That building was built in 1998. It had a different wind load and different requirements for wind mitigation. So when we got hit by Hurricane Ian, we sustained enough damage to the building that any of those repairs essentially
tipped it over that threshold, requiring us to bring it up to current code. So when we evaluated the process of remodeling and updating to current code with the existing building and shell opposed to tearing the building down and
starting all over, it was more cost effective to tear the building down and start all over. >> What was some of the damage that the building did sustain and maybe people may not see it or know it from Hurricane Ian a couple years ago? >> Sure. So you can still see the damage
now. So, if you drive down Sumpter, you can see that the majority of the roof over top of the apparatus bay is gone. It's been gone since Hurricane Ian hit. We've done some band-aid repairs to to keep it, you know, keeping the elements out of the the building as much as we
can, but the the most eye-catching is just all the extensive damage to the roof. On top of that, the inside of the station, specifically over that same area, the apparatus bay, the ceiling is gone. Most of the apparatus bay ceiling is out. So, even with the band-aid
repairs we have, we're still getting water. You know, if we get a bad rain, it's still dripping inside the apparatus bay. Obviously, the the band-aid repairs are are not effective enough. We also had walls within the station, exterior walls that had been pushed in from the
extreme wind that we had from Hurricane Ian. So, our training classroom wall is offset. You can still see the damage where it's it was pushed in towards the building and our crews were in there mitigating the disaster and hunkering down when that happened. So, we had to move them out of that spot in the building even during the event.
>> So, what are we going to see with the new station? How will that compare to the current station? >> So, it'll be a little bit different in square footage. Again, when it started out as a remodel, we were the goal was to increase the square footage of the building so we would have enough room for staff. So the biggest is that it's
going to be brought up to current wind mitigation codes which although wasn't part of the original plan with the remodel is kind of an inherent benefit of now there is a fire station there that is up to current wind codes. So we're happy to see that. But the layout
of the building will be a little bit different. There'll be a little bit more square footage for administration. And this is something we evaluated not just for now but for the foreseeable future. How can we make sure that we're kind of thinking of all of those things? And we added an apparatus bay. So, as we grow
as a department, not just administration, but our response services, we know we're going to increase. So, we included a little bit more parking space for apparatus in the future. >> And how long is this going to take roughly? So, right now we're being
loosely told December of 2026, but you know, that's all contingent upon, you know, weather not getting in the way over the next year. No significant project delays. So, I think anybody that's involved in a project like this knows that sometimes delays pop up. So,
I would say they're going to start demolition, tear down the building in December. We're told that there's the potential of the following December 2026, we might have a turnkey ready fire station, but if we get any delays, it might creep into a little bit of 2027.
>> Where do the firefighters go during that time? And should people be worried about the response times during this construction? >> No, there's going to be no change in response. The temporary fire station is right out in front of the Mullen Center, which is right down the street. So, the crews that responded out of station 81
just moved a block down. They're in a temporary fire station, temporary apparatus bay. It's very noticeable from City Green where the crews are. The only thing that we did have to adjust is we moved one tanker, our 3,00galon water tanker went to station 84, but the
response is going to be identical. There's going to be no effects to that. And station 81 of course is home to the administration, your office, the fire chief's office. Where are those folks going to be? And how do people that normally might try to reach you guys or come in for any kind of business to
station 81, where do they go? How do they reach you during this construction phase? >> Yeah, so we moved into city hall a few weeks ago. Our entire administration moved into city hall. We are on different floors scattered between the first, second, and third floor. So we are a little bit separated, but if
anybody from the public needs anything from us, as they would have in the past, when you go into the first floor, city hall, and you look immediately to your left, it was where city planning was, which is now economic development, but you will find the front desk, a smiling
face, somebody there to answer your questions or provide anything that you need right as you walk into what is the economic development area on the first floor. >> That's great. We love having you guys here in city hall. Happy to make room for you. One last question. Of course, people are always concerned about costs and how we're spending taxpayer dollars.
What is the cost of this construction project and and how's it being funded? >> Right now, the total project cost is 17.5 and I'm rounding to 17.5. The majority of the funding is coming from SIR tax. So, well over $12 million is coming direct from the 1% sales tax. The
remaining amount is a mixture of district funds, renewal and replacement funds, impact fee funds, and um there was a contribution from the general fund because we had planned the year after the remodel that we were going to have
to replace that roof at some point in time. So, when you talk about the damage that we've had, we are we banded it. We held the funding that was otherwise going to go to do a roof replacement in the future and then that just got
incorporated for basically the rebuild. All right. Well, thank you for the update. We appreciate all the information. Good luck with the project. Enjoy your time here at city hall. We looking forward to the new building in about a year from now, but I'm sure we'll be checking in with you from time to time for updates on the project. So, thanks again for being here, Chief.
>> Thanks for having me. >> Thanks for tuning in to Northport Now. Be sure to check out the show notes for links and more details on everything we covered today. [music] Have a great week, Northport. And don't forget, stay informed, stay engaged, [music] and stay connected. [music]