Will Durango Fire Wind Up at River City Hall After All?

Will the Durango Fire Protection District’s downtown station remain at River City Hall? Men Who Grill returns to Buckley Park on Saturday, June 11th. And the Durango Arts Center revives its performing and visual arts summer camps. You’re watching the local news network brought to you by Kroegers Ace Hardware and Service Master Restore. I’m Wendy Graham Settle. The Durango Fire Protections District’s downtown station may stay at River City Hall after all. That’s if the Durango City Council and the Fire Protection District can agree on terms of use. The city council voted in May to begin negotiations with the fire protection district to determine how and if the River City Hall location can be used for the downtown station. Mayor Barbara Noseworthy said that the public will be involved in a process that will assess how to best use the site. The downtown station is at River City Hall now, but the building and facilities are outdated and overcrowded. The property also has been targeted as a site for a visual and performing arts center to compliment The Powerhouse Science Center to the north. After looking for a new location for more than five years, the fire protection district purchased the Durango School District 9-R Administrative Campus last year with the intent of replacing the old fine arts building with a new fire station and using the old high school for administrative offices. The move spawned a citizen-driven initiative that amends the city’s land-use code to allow for public hearings when protective services developed properties in the central business district. Prior to the ordinance, protective services were designated as allowable uses and required only planning staff review. The city adopted the ordinance just a few days before announcing it wanted to enter into negotiations with the fire department. Negotiations will conclude within a year, and both the city council and fire district board of directors will have to approve any agreements reached. If the city and the fire district can’t reach an agreement within a year, the fire district will continue with its plans to relocate to the Durango School District 9-R Campus. To follow developments, visit durangogov.org. Men Who Grill, a signature fundraiser for the Women’s Resource Center, returns to Buckley Park after a two year hiatus caused by the pandemic. Grilling teams dish up their favorite foods to compete for the People’s Choice Award while serving up morsels to guests. This year’s event is on June 11th. Tickets for the event are $30 in advance and are available at the Women’s Resource Center or Maria’s Bookshop. Tickets at the gate will be $35 and includes all-you-can-eat grilled samples and live music. A beer tent will be available to sell beverages. To learn more or to register as a grilling team, visit wrcdurango.org. The Durango Arts Center’s performing and visual arts summer camps are now accepting registrations. Theater camps will cover skills like voice and movement techniques, terminology, character development, and memorization techniques. Visual arts camps include mask-making, drawing, painting for teens, tiny town creation, and surreal art. Scholarships are available. Visit durangoarts.org for a complete list of camps and activities. A living art party will launch the fifth Annual Animas City Night Bazaar Series on Wednesday, June 29th, and we’ll continue through September. Animas City Night Bazaar was started by North Main businesses and residents to build community, support the local artisan economy, and to bring visitors to North Main business corridor. It’s held in Animas Alley between 29th and 31st Streets, between 5:00 and 8:00 p.m on the last Wednesday of the month. June’s theme, Living Art, will feature flash mobs. July will celebrate the culinary skills of Grill aficionados with the great bazaar BQ. August’s theme is Weird Science featuring a variety of kooky experiments, with September closing the series with the Animas Olympic Games. To learn more or to sign up to become a vendor, visit animascitynightbazaar.com. Animas River water is cleaner and safer now that the upgrades at the Santa Rita Water Reclamation Facility have been completed. A study by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, The Mountain Studies Institute, and the City of Durango tested water samples below the treatment plant before and after the improvements were completed in 2020. Water samples showed a 93% reduction of phosphorus, 59% reduction of nitrogen, and a 90% reduction of E.coli bacteria. The $58.3 million taj mahal of water treatment plants can treat an average of three-and-a-quarter million gallons of waste water a day and can serve 30,000 residents. To learn more, Visit durangogov.org. That’s it for this week’s Local News Roundup. Thanks for watching, I’m Wendy Graham Settle.

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