KPFD Town Hall Leaves Residents with More Questions Than Answers

I think it’s the chicken and the egg ... (KPFD) got the property, and now (they’re) trying to make a facility work on the property, whereas it should be the other way around.”

A March 8 town hall meeting hosted by the Key Peninsula Fire District left many attendees frustrated and searching for answers. The meeting, expected to feature a presentation on the district’s Capital Facilities Plan, instead became an impromptu Q&A session where residents struggled to ask informed questions about a complex 440-page document.

Joel Prybylski, a Lakebay resident who attended the KPFD volunteer academy in 2017 and has followed the district’s operations closely, was among those left unsatisfied.

“I was expecting a 30- to 45-minute presentation of where they were at with the properties and what they were doing moving forward on a smaller scale to garner public support,” Prybylski said in between the town hall and the regular bi-monthly board of fire commissioners meeting he attended March 11. “After the town hall, it feels like they are playing catch-up, and they’re shifting responsibility on the citizens.”

A Plan Justifying Past Purchases?

The Capital Facilities Plan outlines future investments in the fire district, including the three parcels of land the board of commissioners already purchased. Some residents, including Prybylski, believe the plan serves more as a justification for those purchases rather than a strategy for improving fire service.

“I think it’s the chicken and the egg,” Prybylski said. “(KPFD) got the property, and now (they’re) trying to make a facility work on the property, whereas it should be the other way around.”

Other critics argued that the district should focus more on improving existing infrastructure. The district’s original facilities plan had prioritized upgrades and expansions for fire stations in Wauna, Home, Longbranch, and on Wright Bliss. Yet, despite these priorities, the district now appears to have shifted its focus toward new land purchases and potential headquarters construction.

“At the meeting, they pushed all that to the side and said, ‘We’re just going to do seismic improvements, and a potential $25 million bond will help us build a new headquarters facility in Key Center,’ ” Prybylski said.

Data requested by Prybylski showed that in 2024, Station 46 in Key Center, staffed only by volunteers, responded to just 143 calls, while other fire district units were dispatched more than 3,100 times.

KPFD’s service call heat maps showed that the majority of emergency calls occurred outside the Key Center area.

“The data shows that the Key Center station is not a priority,” Prybylski said. “And that property we have sitting there is quicksand — the more we sink money into it, the harder it will be to get out.”

While Prybylski says he’s not opposed to a bond, he would only support one that includes upgrades for all four existing stations, which are between 20 and 30 years old, and that could make the Wright Bliss station capable of housing career firefighters.

“Is four stations enough to support this district? I think it is,” he said. “Let’s focus our attention on the buildings we have and get rid of these properties.”

Waning Interest

Public interest in the board’s plans appears to be fading. The last two town halls drew nearly 100 community members to the Key Peninsula Civic Center, but attendance dropped to 45 at the March 8 meeting. A similar trend was evident in the district’s surveys: last fall’s Key Peninsula Fire Property and Capital Facility Survey received nearly 400 responses, yet only 40 people participated in the current survey as of March 14, despite it being open for six weeks. (KPFD later extended the survey deadline to April 30: www.keypeninsulafire.org.)

One community member at the town hall blamed the low return rate on the survey’s jargon-focused language. “I don’t know what seismic requirements are. I don’t know what hazardous materials are. You’re going way over our heads. That’s what (the commissioners) are supposed know,” he said. “It seems to me you’re asking us what to do, but you should be proposing what we need to do.”

What To Do With the Olson Estate?

With the Calahan property now listed for sale at $1.15 million, the district focus has shifted to the Olson Estate property, located next to Sunnycrest Nursery. The property includes a deteriorating rental home, and four of the five fire commissioners agree that investing additional funds to make it livable isn’t a viable option.

Commissioner Stan Moffett, however, believes renting out the home could provide income to help offset loan payments. That would mean the district investing nearly $70,000 into the home to help bring in $150,000 over five years.

Commissioner Shawn Jensen supports holding on to the property for now but acknowledges that the current budget doesn’t allow for the level of investment needed to make the house habitable. The district recently spent $17,000 on a new HVAC system for the home and would have to discuss further improvements.

While there has been plenty of discussion about what to do with the property, KPFD Fire Chief Nick Swinhart was quick to point out at the March 11 board meeting what they can’t do: burn down the house as a training exercise. He explained that even if the district wanted to, getting permission for such a burn would be highly unlikely.

Despite differing opinions on the home, the commissioners seemed to agree on keeping the pasture on the Olson property, which has been identified as a potential site for a new headquarters building.

To do so, they will need access from KP Highway, meaning the district must find a way to sell the highway-front property while retaining an access road.