Fire District 3 mulling finance options for new station
Published 1:30 am Monday, August 17, 2026
To replace Carlsborg Fire Station 33, Clallam County Fire District 3 commissioners will consider financing options for a new station at the operations and training center on Carlsborg Road. The district hopes to secure financing, potentially through a non-voted bond, by March 2027 and begin construction in April. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group file)
SEQUIM — Clallam County Fire District
3 commissioners are looking to have a pathway by the end of this year to fully fund a new $6.2 million Carlsborg Fire Station 33
They asked staff on Aug. 4 to schedule a meeting with financial consulting firm D.A. Davidson to discuss options between a non-voted bond and a private bank placement. A discussion date has not been set
Misty Shaw, the district’s finance director, said D.A. Davidson’s representative will look at the district’s situation and help them go through a rating process to determine the best pathway. She said they’ve been told they need about four months to go through the rating process before receiving financing, and commissioners aim to have funding available by next March
Commissioners identified the station at
70 Carlsborg Road last year as the district’s most immediate capital improvement need due to size, age, lack of adequate facilities and a lack of seismic resilience
Officials will look to construct a station between 8,000 square feet and 9,000 square feet at the training and operations center, 255 Carlsborg Road. It will include up to six apparatuses, sleeping quarters, a day room, kitchen, showers, restrooms, cardio and fitness area, a shop, decontamination room and personal protection equipment storage
Fire commissioner Mike Mingee, the project lead, said they estimate costs at about $698 per square foot for construction with about $4 million for construction, $1.7 million on soft costs and about $400,000 for sales tax
Commissioners agreed in May to an $807,200 contract with Aetta Architects of Tacoma for project management, architectural and engineering services
The district has paid $37,000 so far for work on design and project scope, staff report
Construction would take about nine months and would tentatively break ground next April
While no set amount has been determined for how much commissioners want to borrow, commissioners have discussed between $4 million and $5 million
Shaw said they’re tentatively looking at $400,000 to $500,000 in annual debt service to repay the debt
Mingee said that amount is manageable in relation to the district’s annual budget
The district has about $1.6 million in funds available from the sales of multiple properties in recent years, including the Lost Mountain Fire Station property
The sale of Station 33’s two lots could help with costs as well, Mingee said. It was built as an unstaffed station in 1964 and remodeled in 1972, 1982 and 2023
Funding options
In February, commissioners agreed not to ask voters to approve a bond to fund the project because of its proximity to the district’s August 2025 request for voters to increase the general levy rate from $1.11 to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value. Its new rate went into effect this year
Mingee said he’s not opposed to a voted bond, but he’s concerned about the timing and the district’s need to consider asking voters in the future to approve an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) levy lid lift
Fire commission chair Jeff Nicholas said they’ll likely need to go to voters late next year to renew the EMS levy
The district receives about 71 percent of its budget from the general levy, 23 percent from the EMS levy and the remainder from grants, timber tax revenues and more
When the general levy passed last summer, the EMS levy was about $0.39 per $1,000 of assessed property value, rather than its originally approved $0.50 rate
Fire Chief Justin Grider said they aren’t seeking voter bonds because it’s “not in the best interest of constituents.”
“The EMS levy coupled with a bond seems to be a bit much in the district’s mind,” he said
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com
