At its Sept 16, 2025 meeting, the Golden Valley City Council approved two resolutions regarding the location of a new East Fire Station facility. These actions move the City one step closer to achieving its Building Forward plan to reinvest in essential services—in this case maintaining a high level of fire and life safety, protection, and response throughout the community. 

The first resolution approves the property at 1875 Lilac Drive N as the location of the new East Fire Station, and the second resolution authorizes the City to use eminent domain to acquire the property, if necessary. 

The City has been in communication with the property owner for over a year. Recognizing the importance of moving forward with this project and the lack of other viable properties, approval of the second resolution allows the City to start the process of acquisition by eminent domain. This process involves multiple steps and is designed to protect the rights of the property owner and ensure they are protected and fairly compensated. However, it is still possible eminent domain will not be required. 

More about the eminent domain process is available in this pamphlet from the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). 

Funding for the East Fire Station project will come from a combination of grant funds, city funds, and government bonds.  

In 2023, the City was awarded $3.172 million in state grant funding to contribute to this project. The City will use these funds to acquire and improve property and create early designs. The City must allocate this funding to the project by the end of 2025 or risk losing it. City staff are actively working with state and federal partners to secure additional grant funding for this project. 

Bonds are a type of long-term loan utilized by government entities to finance major, long-term capital projects such as roads, schools, and other public infrastructure. Borrowing for large project enables government entities to distribute the costs across future years. 

Current Facilities  

Currently, the Golden Valley Fire Department operates out of three fire stations: 

• Fire Station 1 (Civic Campus at 7800 Golden Valley Rd), which is the largest and most central fire station
• Fire Station 2 (Turners Crossroad and Laurel Ave), which is near the St Louis Park border
• Fire Station 3 (Golden Valley Rd and Bonnie Ln), which is near the Minneapolis border

None of these facilities meet the department’s needs. For example, these buildings:  

• are outdated in both size and configuration to enable best firefighting practices, including equipment maintenance, hands-on training, and physical fitness training
• do not accommodate modern vehicles and equipment
• do not provide adequate measures to protect firefighter health and safety, including ample workspace to reduce exposure to carcinogens and a protected space for firefighters to dress for calls
• lack gender-equitable restrooms and locker rooms
• do not have bunk rooms to allow for staffing stations overnight

Station Location Selection Process

A 2016 study of Golden Valley’s fire/rescue operations concluded the City needed to move from a three-station paid on-call staffing model to a two-station duty crew staffing model, which would enable 24/7 staff coverage, faster response times, and higher firefighter retention. 

From 2023 to 2025, the City explored optimal site options and hosted multiple public information and community engagement sessions to gather resident feedback and provide project status updates. 

Over the past few years, the City completed extensive research related to the East Fire Station Location Project. Through this project, the City initially analyzed 10 separate locations with six individual criteria, including response times (calls and area), cost to acquire and build, neighborhood impact, traffic, sustainability, civic presence, and land size. 

The location analysis was then extended into researching 31 additional locations, some of which included up to five properties each. This included numerous commercial and residential properties, as well as two park properties. Through this extensive analysis, which provided both qualitative and quantitative metrics, the City determined 1875 Lilac Dr N, the Feist Automotive property, is the ideal location for a new East Fire Station. This location offers the best life and fire safety protection due to its shortest response times for the most community members. 

For updates, and to learn more about Building Forward, visit the City’s website at www.buildingforwardgv.org.