The Albert Lea City Council on Tuesday leaned toward pursuing two of three potential sites for a future fire station set on a timeline of completion for June 2019.

After discussing the three sites during a council work session, Mayor Vern Rasmussen recommended the city move forward in further pursuing two sites — and to leave the third as a backup. The first proposed site is on East Main Street east of the Davis Law Office building, and the second is at the Blazing Star Landing. The third site was west off of East Main Street near Fleet Farm Supply.

Deputy Director of Fire Jeff Laskowske said the fire department has been working with Brunton Architects out of Mankato to come up with a facility design that will meet their needs for three months. He said the floor plan shown at the work session, which was for the first two proposed sites, was a good one.

Corey Brunton of Brunton Architects said the first location would give the fire department easy access onto Main Street. It also offers access to a city-owned training ground that would allow training exercises like small burns.

However, the site has challenges — namely, soil condition, Brunton said. Soil borings showed poor soil 7 to 12 feet down, and the soil did not hold weight well.

“There’s a lot of construction debris here,” he said.

But Brunton said this doesn’t necessarily mean the build couldn’t happen there.

“We can build on just about anything,” he said. “This is Minnesota, right? We don’t give up.”

The site also has areas that are within the 100-year flood plain. This would mean the city’s civil and environmental engineer Phil Wacholz would need to build the area up before the facility could be built.

Additionally, because of the location, the site would have no opportunity for future expansion, Brunton said. The facility would also need to keep in mind an opportunity for shared parking with those who wish to fish in the channel and pier area.

Brunton estimated that, without the costs of soil remediation or foundation considerations to support a building and without the cost of buying any land the site sits on, the cost of preparing the site for construction would be $893,000.

Brunton said the second site, at the Blazing Star Landing, has flexibility because the city already owns the land parcel, and that it also has the greatest opportunity for expansion. The site does have a slight slope, but Brunton said it was not within the 100-year flood plain and would not be expensive to develop.

However, the site also has construction debris from its former use. Brunton said the site did not have the necessary soil borings conducted to best understand the state of the soil.

“These buildings are heavy,” Brunton said. We need to consider what these soils look like.”

Because Brunton said the facility would be adding traffic to the intersection, he recommended a flashing sign or that the building itself use LED lighting changes to signal when emergency vehicles could be entering the intersection.

Without soil corrections, Brunton estimated the site cost to be $663,000.

Brunton suggested the city move forward with soil borings for both the East Main and Blazing Star Landing sites.

“We need to have more information below that 25-foot mark,” Brunton said. He recommended the city procured soil borings for depths of up to 50 feet.

The site the City Council decided they would not pursue further at this time would sit on the location of Fleet Farm Supply with a $661,000 anticipated cost without acquisition costs or soil remediation for a building foundation.

Brunton said the site has a 10-foot slope corner to corner, and that the scale necessary to build up that slope and to move the building site out of the 100-year floodplain and floodplain fringe would be difficult to run past the MPCA.

“For us to bring this kind of soil in is doubtful,” Brunton said.

Additionally, Brunton said the size of the lot would require the building to have two fewer apparatus bays — 10 instead of 12 — and three stories rather than two to fit the facility’s needs. He estimated the construction costs on the third site to be approximately 20 percent higher than the first two proposed sites.

City Manager Chad Adams said at the subsequent City Council meeting that the plan is to move forward with the two recommended soil borings soon. Brunton is aiming to have the construction drawings complete by the end of March 2018.

According to Brunton, there is still a lot of information he needs to continue moving forward.

“But, I can tell you, I’m hot on the trail,” he said.

In other action:

• The council approved a 2.5 percent increase in salary for non-union employee wages, which Adams said is consistent with the wages negotiated for the city’s union employees.
• Had the first reading of an ordinance that would change the filing fee for city elections. In the past, the filing fee for Albert Lea has been $5. In 2015, the state Legislature allowed certain cities like Albert Lea to adopt a filing fee no more than $40. Adams said the city’s recommendation will be $25.
• Adams said the Freeborn National Bank building has had another option come forward and by late January or early February, the City Council will consider the options on how to proceed. He said he cannot comment on the second developer at this time.
• Rasmussen signed a proclamation declaring January Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Thursday, Jan. 11, was declared Human Trafficking Awareness Day.