New Woodlawn fire station to be built next to current building

Woodlawn fire station on Lukens Road.

The new Woodlawn fire station will be built on land next to the current building on Lukens Lane, Mount Vernon Supervisor Dan Storck said last week. 

The half acre piece of land east of the current station was purchased in 2013 by the Board of Supervisors. Building it there will allow for current station to continue operating as the new station is built, eliminating the need for a temporary facility, Storck said. Once the new Woodlawn station is completed, the old building will torn down. 

“The existing Woodlawn fire station building and systems are well beyond the end of their life cycle and no longer meet the current and future operational needs of the county Fire and Rescue Department,” Storck said at last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

The Board of Supervisors property, located at 8707 Lukens Lane, is currently zoned for residential use, meaning that the Comprehensive Plan land use recommendation for that parcel will need to be revised for public facilities use. The county board voted unanimously at last week’s meeting to initiate that process.

Construction of the new station is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2019, said Teresa Lepe, a chief in the county’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services. The county will hold a public facilities review prior to construction, which will include community meetings and outreach. 

The new station will be approximately 15,000 square feet, and will have four bays and two floors. Construction, including demolition of the old station, is expected to last about two years, Lepe said. It will be paid for as part of a public safety bond approved by voters in 2015.

The current Woodlawn fire station was built in 1970 and expanded in 1986, Lepe said.