MORGANTOWN — Morgantown City Council on Tuesday awarded a $1,770,957 bid to Lytle Construction for some needed improvements to Morgantown’s oldest fire hall, the Norwood Fire Station, or Station 2.
The block building located at the corner of Sabraton Avenue and Hillcrest Street became a home to the Morgantown Fire Department in July of 1949, when Morgantown annexed the city of Sabraton.
It received its last substantial upgrade in the fall of 2002, with the addition of a 2,700 square-foot, six bay garage.
Assistant City Manager Emily Muzzarelli explained this project will create individual sleeping quarters, address foundation settlement problems and upgrade the building’s plumbing and ventilation systems. It will also expand the building’s footprint to add a weight room and exercise space.
A scaled-down version of this project ($400,000) was included in a slate of four facility updates envisioned in February 2022, when council approved up to $7 million in bonds to address updates to city hall, the public safety building and the public works garage.
Muzzarelli said the city will draw money from its Community Development Block Grant annual entitlement and CDBG Covid dollars, as well as the city’s contingency fund, to cover the rest.
Movement on the Norwood Station project comes on the heels of a January announcement that the city is receiving $6 million in federal earmarks through Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin to build a new fire station.
City Manager Kim Haws explained at the time the new station would replace the South High Street station, or Station 1, which was built in 1954.
In other city news, council adopted the city’s $43,166,508 fiscal year 2024 spending plan and $120,500 coal severance budget.
It also approved by resolution supplemental budgets for the city’s municipal sales tax ($9,560,000); capital escrow fund ($7,562,385); Morgantown Municipal Airport ($4,657,316); arts & culture fund ($547,132); Hazel Ruby McQuain Park ($385,000) and Met Theatre ($147,950).
