San Bruno and community foundation to partner on funding new fire station 

Foundation board members unanimously voted in May to wind down operations — including its scholarship and community grants programs — and spend the rest of its endowment on a large legacy project. 

Despite community member concerns that their input on what that project should be has not been heard, the foundation proceeded in its recommendation that the project should be rebuilding the outdated Fire Station No. 52. 

At its meeting May 27, the City Council agreed with that recommendation. The timing is right, Councilmember Michael Salazar said after the meeting, given that San Bruno recently passed a property-owner funded infrastructure bond that will give the city access to $102 million over time to fund street, stormwater and fire station repairs. 

“We discussed a few different ideas of what that project could be. The fire station emerged as one that was most feasible, because we already decided we were already going forward with that project with additional funding through Measure Q,” he said. “It has momentum behind it and we were ready to move forward.” 

Though plans for a remodeled fire station don’t have a specific timeline or price tag attached to them as of yet, Mayor Rico Medina said, it will undoubtedly cost more than the foundation’s $15 million to $20 million endowment. The Measure Q funding that has already been approved makes the partnership between the city and the foundation to build a new fire station a feasible reality. 

He reiterated points made by community foundation staff that a prolonged listening process would have set community expectations too high. The remaining funding won’t cover a large-scale project like a new library in its entirety. 

“If there’s no funding source, there’s nothing to do,” he said. “What have we done? We’ve raised expectations.” 

The fire station is in dire need of repair, Medina said, and is both seismically unsound and without basic necessities like separate male and female restrooms. Built in 1957, it’s one of the oldest fire stations in the county. 

“We’ve been very fortunate that we have firefighter personnel that have done very well with what they work with and serve the community well,” he said. “With an opportunity like this, it is time for us to join with the foundation and move forward on a project.” 

Councilmember Tom Hamilton acknowledged that there wasn’t enough community engagement that went into the project to explain to residents why a fire station remodel was one of the only feasible options for the foundation’s remaining money. 

“I don’t think a good enough job was done about educating the public on the extreme need we have for replacing fire stations,” he said. “We should have had an open house, invite people to it … anybody who walks in will say right away, ‘this place needs to be replaced.’” 

He emphasized that the community foundation made an independent decision to sunset operations. The decision up for a council vote was only about whether or not to accept the money, Hamilton said. 

“The question put to us was, ‘If we try to give you $15 [million] to $19 million for a fire station, will you take it, yes or no?’” he said.