The Canby City Council last week approved on first reading a long-term lease for the Canby Fire District’s new north side station, to be located on a city-owned one-acre parcel immediately south of the Canby Public Works Department and Canby Wastewater Treatment Plant on North Redwood Street.
Highway 99E and the Union Pacific Railroad tracks — two major transportation features that divide the city of Canby neatly in two — have long been challenges for timely medical, fire and other emergency response to residents on the north side of town.
A $4.9 million bond measure voters approved last November was designed to address this need, with the construction of a north side station, which will be used primarily for medical responses (which account for roughly 70 percent of the Canby Fire District’s calls anyway). However, the district wanted the option to expand it to a full fire station if future growth necessitates it.
With this space, they’ll have that option, according to City Administrator Rick Robinson.
In recognition of the unmet needs that this new station will provide, the city has proposed a 50-year lease of the property to Canby Fire for only $1. Man, you can’t even buy a McDonald’s cheeseburger for that much anymore.
Canby Fire Chief Jim Davis said the district has decided that the new location will house student firefighters as well as staff paramedics. The site will also be home to a temporary modular facility while the permanent location is being built.
Chief Davis said he expects construction to begin as early as February.