| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2010 8:22 am |
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Local News 
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Lake Stevens fire district takes over former Barclays building LAKE STEVENS -- Three buildings formerly occupied by the Barclays North development company will have a new purpose: headquarters and a training center for a fire department.Lake Stevens Fire District 8 bought the buildings from Patrick McCourt -- the former chief executive of the company that flourished during the housing boom and closed its doors during last year's bust -- for $4.5 million. The buildings, which total 18,000 square feet, are located in the South Lake Center at the northeast corner of S. Lake Stevens Road and 20th Street SE. The property was not in foreclosure and the district did not deal with a trustee, Chief Gary Faucett said, meaning that Barclays North has not filed for bankruptcy. The buildings were bought with money from a levy approved by voters in 2006. Under the levy, officials planned to build new offices, a training facility, emergency operations center and a meeting room across the street from its current offices at 9811 Chapel Hill Road, south of Frontier Village. The district owns six parcels on about 1.2 acres there. The Chapel Hill Fire Station has become increasingly crowded in recent years, with firefighters using the conference room for sleeping quarters, officials have said. Moving the administrative offices out of the building will create more room. Environmental rules in Lake Stevens changed after the fire district bought the property across Chapel Hill Road, Faucett said. The district still could have built on the property but would have had to limit building heights to two floors, he said. Last October, the district began talking with McCourt about the South Lake Center buildings, the chief said. The district gets much more room for its money this way, and more quickly, he said. "We get three times the building for $1 million less," Faucett said. The Chapel Hill Road parcels currently are occupied by homes, and the district will probably wind up selling the lots with the homes intact, Faucett said. Under the $6 million levy, district property owners are paying $1.45 per $1,000 of assessed property value for five years, an increase of 55 cents per $1,000 from the district's earlier tax. The levy also authorized the fire district to collect tax money to hire up to three firefighters per year, depending on growth in the district, Faucett said. So far the district has collected only enough to hire six of the 12, he said. District officials also considered building jointly with the city of Lake Stevens on the $20 million civic campus it's planning on Grade Road in the northeastern part of the city. The move would have saved some money which fire district voters could then have decided to reallocate, officials said. The city, however, has slowed work on the civic center because of declining revenues. The real-estate excise tax, planned as a major funding source, has dwindled because of reduced property transactions, city administrator Jan Berg said. With the city project on hold, the fire district had to move ahead and use the money authorized by voters, Faucett said. The district still could build a fire station on the civic campus to replace the station in downtown Lake Stevens, but that will not happen for some time, the chief said. The fire district plans to move into its new headquarters Aug. 1. Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com. |
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