Olathe plans to spend about $14.5 million on its future Firehouse No. 9 planned northwest of College Boulevard and Woodland Road.
On Tuesday, city staff and contracted architects from Finkle + Williams gave a presentation to the Olathe City Council focused primarily on the design of the future firehouse.
College, Woodland is a strategic move, fire staff say
This particular property was donated to Olathe from the historic Hoff Family Farm along with land for a future city park, dubbed Pioneer Park.
In an email to the Post, Olathe Fire Public Information Officer Capt. Mike Hall reiterated the location’s importance for the fire department, pointing out that northern-central Olathe has seen steady growth over a number of years.
In the last decade, he said the volume of calls for service in this area has grown more than 200%.
During the city council meeting, Olathe Fire Chief Jeff DeGraffenreid emphasized how important addressing that demand is.
“I don’t know what the day will be, but this is going to make an impact in somebody’s life,” DeGraffenreid said.
Plus, this firehouse has a good location for travel purposes as well, Hall said.
Its position at the intersection of two major roads in Olathe will help with both east-west and north-south travel, he said. And, it will help the fire department achieve better response times in that area.
Olathe’s fire service is expanding, redeveloping
- In Olathe, the fire service is making moves to expand its facilities to help cover the growing parts of the city
- At the same time, it is also having to contend with aging and outdated facilities in older parts of the city.
- A 2023 report identified a handful of locations in the city that could make good fits for new firehouses and their service needs, including the College and Woodland property.
- That report also identified two existing firehouses — Firehouse No. 1 on Old Highway 56 and Firehouse No. 4 on Mur-Len Road off Santa Fe Street — for possible reconstruction.
- Firehouse No. 2 is also expected to get about $1 million in renovation work over the next several months.
Next steps for Firehouse No. 9:
- Design work on the future firehouse is expected to continue over the next several weeks.
- From there, the site development plans will start going through Olathe’s formal planning process, which will include at least one stop at the Olathe Planning Commission.
- Construction contracts are expected to come to the city council for approval in early 2025, Senior Building Design Project Manager Jeff Blakeman said.
More Olathe fire department news: Olathe’s Firehouse No. 2 slated for $1M in renovations, expansion
