We're not a big fan of the City of Ludington moving it's fire station to the northeast corner of town.   We looked at the inefficiency of that move in simple terms in Fires Station Location 101, we revisited it in Fire Station Location 201, which looked at the special case in Ludington.  In simplest terms, response times will be much greater for fires at where the need for suppression is much greater; responding firefighters will need to go through school zones on the way to the station, they will need to go on school-adjacent property for over 90% of calls in their district.

 

We're not a big fan of an inflated cost of the new fire station.  We were told that the new fire station on Tinkham would cost around $2.16 million if we got the deluxe model; it was odd since the deluxe model envisioned in 2008 was nearly half of that.  It's came down a few hundred thousand for construction (we'll see if that holds when it gets finished, the engineering and other costs seem to be much higher also) but still costs significantly more than 2008's model without all the bells and whistles. 

But even I never envisioned the incredible short-sighted planning that has been the case in the construction of this fire station in its new location.  One of those reasons why this has occurred is the old Lakeshore Lumber Building had a mysterious fire just after they began construction on the new Lakeshore Resource Network (LRN).  Surprisingly, they turn off all of the utilities to the site on the weekend of the first week of construction, and the fire starts in the middle of the night that very weekend.  

Within the week, they have an architectural design and begin work on a new structure that is a lot larger than the site's old footprint.  So if you wonder why the City's police never forensically examined an empty gas can that was deposited at a local dumpster that night an hour later by somebody who was caught on camera getting out of a truck on a local school's property, that should explain it.  

This bigger building has presented a problem to the second builder on that property split, the City of Ludington.  The perspective below is from Google maps, meaning it is dated, and shows the early construction period of the station.  The red polygon is the fire station footprint.  Perhaps you notice first that there is only one way to that station, from that entrance on Tinkham, an entrance shared by the LRN.  

Three arrows of different colors represent pictures that an LT correspondent recently took on the ground, the direction of the arrow shows the direction the picture was took from the point where it was taken.  The first picture (orange 1) shows what you would have seen coming in through the entrance.

This was taken mid-afternoon on Thursday September 27, 2018, but I have had opportunities to see this parking lot full before and after the station construction started.  Please notice the cars parked on both sides of the entrance road; imagine the same with up to 20 volunteer firefighters coming to the station on code, many in large firefighter trucks.  Imagine them leaving on code with fire engines, wide-profiled rescue trucks and ladder trucks-- as more responding firefighters turn into this entrance.  You can barely get one vehicle through. 

The next picture (yellow 2), illustrates just how packed the lot was, a car parked a foot beyond the sidewalk.  Imagine a fire truck going to the entrance while firefighters drive quickly to the station, and can't get in until the truck clears.  Maybe they believe they can squeak through, but can't, and then can't back up because other responders are right behind them.  Imagine what would then happen to that car parked next to the entrance as the engine turns left.

Now one could hope that once the firefighters get to the station they will have a place to park.  Maybe someday, they will get some reserved spots but the last picture (lime green 3) shows the someday-reserved spots are all filled on this day.  Some are even parked on non-spots.

Those two lots that will be needed for parking for 20 personally owned vehicles for fire emergencies(more on meeting and training days), barely satisfy that need if all are available, however, the LRN has other plans.  Notice those two paved sidewalks leading to the two dedicated parking lots in back (inside the orange circles above).  The LRN will surely want to continue to use those lots on days like this Thursday, and if they can't, where will those 20 vehicles of theirs park?

All of these considerations are not applicable at the current downtown location (at least not until the parking lot was mostly taken out in the construction there), nor would they have been a problem at the Dowland location, which would have allowed for pull-through bays, non-interference traffic flow with their neighbors, and a position far away from school zones.  

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Wrong location.

Foolish plans.

Inadequate parking.

The Ludington Planning Commission fast at work.

When the old Ludington Lumber got ''torched'' they should have used the opportunity to redesign the plans to fit the location. 

The Ludington Palace Fire Station  should have been moved to face Tinkham making it easier to egress the premises.

The Lakeshore Resource Center should have been located to the  back corner of the lot and the middle area should have been devoted to parking, there by allowing a pull through for the LPFS.

But the powers to be had their plans as well as their ego's drawn up, and lest they throw a hissy fit and take their ball and bat and go home, they must be served by the residents and the council.

So once again we get a poorly thought out design with inadequate parking.

It must be the Ludington way.

If the Ludington Planning Commission was as active on the Bowling Alley Block Development and this parcel's development as they are when most people try to improve their property and go through the process, many of these issues would have surfaced.  I must shout out to LPC's Nick Krieger who had this to say at the 11-8-2017 LPC meeting:  "Commissioner Krieger stated that the price of the property was irrelevant. If you can’t get the fire engines out, who cares? He said that everyone has assured him that there were not problems and the equipment will be fine. But he has talked to a lot of people in town, and people are concerned that this is behind another building and there is a small driveway."  Both the BAB and fire station parcels had site plan reviews that day.  Was the public informed at all?

No, nor do the minutes reflect any meaningful review by the councilors.

It's nice that Krieger has some wisdom for planning and attention to detail. Too bad he was an unheard lone voice. Maybe the city can buy some property to increase the size and effectiveness of the entrance?

Thanks for this report X. Of course it should be obvious that Ludington's under the table people who rule the town do exactly as they please no matter how negatively it will affect the people. Lots of under the table money as well. The fire station the bowling alley property and the destruction of the Ludington Ave beach have all been approved by the slimey politicians and their cronies. I wonder whose pockets are being stuffed.

It's not a difficult task to see where the money goes once you get past the complexities of the underlying deals that went forward, and if you made a guess that the public money's going towards a bunch of wealthy folks who don't even live in Ludington, you would be correct.

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