City Allocates Funds Toward New Fire Station Project

The most likely site for a new fire station in Sun City is this lot at Bradley Road and Cherry Hills Boulevard, according to sources.

The Menifee City Council has approved an allocation of $800,000 from the city's development impact fees to supplement Riverside County's portion of an allocation of nearly $3.9 million to purchase property and build a replacement for Sun City Fire Station 7.

The station, located on Bradley Road just north of McCall Boulevard (below), is one of the busiest fire stations in the county, due primarily to medical calls for seniors in the Sun City community of Menifee.

According to a staff report presented at the March 18 council meeting, that facility "was informally deemed to be inadequate from a health, safety and operational standpoint" prior to city incorporation in 2008. The County Board of Supervisors previously approved an allocation of $3.1 million toward the project. In 2013, the county approached the City of Menifee for collaboration on the project.

During a June 2013 meeting of the Menifee Public Safety Committee, Battalion 13 Fire Chief Jorge Rodriguez said the most likely site for the new fire station would be on a portion of the 6-acre plot of land at the southwest corner of Bradley Road and Cherry Hills Boulevard -- a vacant lot that is the former site of the Kings Inn hotel.

A source involved in the project confirmed last week that the property at Bradley and Cherry Hills remains the most likely site, although negotiations toward a possible sale continue.

According to the agreement approved by the city council, the $800,000 allocated by the city would be used to purchase the property and the additional $3.1 million from County development impact fees would be used for construction of the facility.