Feb. 6—Camas officials this week approved a $2.3 million consultant contract that will jumpstart work on replacement of the Camas-Washougal Fire Department fire station headquarters.
Camas voters approved the $26.3 million project in August.
On Monday, Camas City Council members unanimously approved the contract with Battle Ground-based Aetta Architects, formerly known as Johansson Wing Architects. The firm has been working with the city and Camas-Washougal Fire Department on the new fire headquarters project since August 2023.
“The current Fire Station 41 facility has outlived its useful life and cannot be increased in size to accommodate the needs required of a modern fire station,” Camas-Washougal Fire Department Division Chief Shaun Ford told city officials in January.
Camas-Washougal Fire Chief Cliff Free told Camas officials in early 2024 that building a new headquarters station was one of his top priorities.
“This will be a building that serves this area’s emergency needs for the next 50 years,” Free said.
The new 23,280-square-foot fire station headquarters building, which will include a multipurpose community meeting room, will be constructed near Camas City Hall on a 0.57-acre site that currently houses the City Hall Annex.
Camas Public Works Director Steve Wall told city council members in late January that the new fire headquarters building must be built to certain environmental standards — the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system’s “silver” standards — to meet the requirements of state grant funds being used to construct the fire headquarters.
The $2.3 million fixed-fee contract with Aetta, which will oversee a collection of sub-consultants, will be funded by bond proceeds and is $572,000 less than the original cost estimates, according to Ford and Wall.
“I won’t say that’s the total savings — we’re way too early to make that statement — but it is less than we anticipated,” Ford told council members Monday.
Documents from Aetta estimate construction costs of about $17.5 million.
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Aetta will now lead the fire station replacement design team, provide design services and act as project managers for a team that will include structural, civil, geotechnical and mechanical engineers, traffic consultants, electricians, plumbers, archaeology consultants, LEED consultants and a construction manager.
The firm told city officials in January that it expects to complete its site and building design work by February 2026. The consultants also said the building and site construction will likely take place between February 2026 and February 2027 but noted that “a more comprehensive design schedule will be developed at the beginning” of the design process.
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