By Curt Seeden
Fountain Valley Living Magazine
California took a $68 million hit last month when Congress cut numerous budget items from the federal spending bill — including $5 million that had been earmarked for a lease” sign appeared on the property.
City Manager Maggie Le said the city hopes to generate some short-term lease revenue, but the plan is still to build a future Station 1 on the site.
“The City Council does want staff to use the city reserves to move the project forward and continue to look at ways to generate new revenue on-site to help offset the project cost at approximately $30 million,” Le said.
In the meantime, the city turned to 45th District Rep. Derek Tran and resubmitted the same federal funding request on March 31.
“We were very excited about the federal support for our local project, but it was disappointing to see it disappear,” Fire Chief Bill McQuaid said. “But we’re not discouraged, and we will continue to move ahead full force.”
new Fountain Valley fire station.
The city had purchased the former SPEC Services building on Bushard Street near Warner Avenue with the intention of building a new fire station to replace the current Station 1 across the street from Fountain Valley High School.
The City Council in April 2023 agreed to purchase the 2.86acre lot for $8.1 million. Officials said the new station would allow the department to improve response times, provide on-site training, and serve multiple purposes rather than just fire response.
The new site has remained vacant, and recently a “for