Encinitas is making the right move by proposing to put a fire station next to an Olivenhain park on Lone Jack Road, city Planning Commissioners said earlier this month.
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In a unanimous vote, the commissioners declared that the proposal will conform with the city’s General Plan. Next, it’s up to the City Council to make a ruling, and then the hunt will be on for project funding and various state agency approvals.
“I think it’s an important step for us,” Commissioner Robert Prendergast said before the vote.
Prendergast, who lives in Olivenhain, listed the many benefits he believes the fire station project will bring to the Olivenhain area, including lowering the fire department’s response times and reducing residents’ fire insurance issues. He also said he was pleased that the plans don’t call for reducing the size of the proposed fire station site’s next-door neighbor — Little Oaks Equestrian Park. The park, which is served by a dirt parking lot with space for horse trailers, contains picnic tables, a riding practice ring and access points to several trails.
“I know it’s a small place, but it is used by the community,” Prendergast said.
The proposed fire station site currently contains a single-family home and a garage building. City officials have started “preliminary negotiations” with the owners to purchase the land, a city staff report states. However, it’s expected to be years before a fire station becomes a reality.
Fire Chief Josh Gordon told the commissioners at the meeting that he wouldn’t even want to speculate on a date, saying only “it’s going to be years down the road.”
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Plans call for it to replace Fire Station 6, which now operates out of a leased commercial building along Rancho Santa Fe Road. The city has a five-year lease on that building and is planning to do some expansion work on it in the short term, Gordon said.
The future station site is about 23,000 square feet, or roughly the same size as the city’s Fire Station 4 in the Village Park area, Gordon said in response to questions by Commissioner Bridget Kimball.
Planning department employees said the site will have ample roadway frontage to accommodate fire trucks’ needs.
This isn’t the only major fire station project being discussed in Encinitas. City officials have also said that they’re eventually going to need a permanent replacement for Fire Station 1 in the city’s downtown. In fall 2024, the city was forced to close the 1950-era, downtown station building due to seismic structural deficiencies. The firefighters ultimately relocated to what’s been described as a “temporary,” but new set of buildings on the Pacific View Art Center property.
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