KNIGHTDALE — The town of Knightdale may be able to build two fire stations and renovate its existing public safety building for the same cost as building a new standalone police station, officials said.

Police Chief Lawrence Capps and Fire Chief Loren Cone presented the plan at the town’s strategic retreat Saturday.

In September, Stewart Cooper Newell recommended the departments renovate the existing public safety building, which houses both the police department and fire station No. 2.

The police department on Steeple Square Court is 5,150 square feet. Stewart Cooper Newell felt Knightdale Police would need around 25,000 square feet by 2040.

The consultant estimated a new police facility at $13.4 million.

Capps and Cone recommended renovating and extending the existing public safety facility for around $5.9 million and building two new fire stations for around $4.5 million each, including land costs.

“What they’re really showing you here is the ability to do two fire stations and the police station, renovating Steeple Square, for the same price it would cost to build a standalone station somewhere else. The financial savings are extraordinary,” said Town Manager Bill Summers.

The public safety facility at Steeple Square would be renovated to move most of the emergency service and fire response crews to a new station located further north in the vicinity of Old Crews Road. The police department and fire administration offices would remain at the current location.

A new addition is also recommended for that location to account for future growth in both the police and fire administrative staff.

“This will go ahead and address our (space) needs out to 2040,” Capps said. “It seems to be a solution that will address all our needs. It’s also the most cost-effective as well.”

Moving the fire response and emergency services personnel out of the public safety building will also help the fire department, Cone said. The current building doesn’t have enough space to house all of his personnel. Administrative space was converted into sleeping quarters for the new ladder crew.

The town is also seeing considerable interest in building subdivisions on the northern side of town, he said. Relocating fire crews to a new station No. 2 near Old Crew and Forestville roads would improve response times as the town continues to stretch northward, Cone added.

The department already has a potential site about 1 mile north of the current Steeple Square location and a contingency location, which is already owned by the town, if that falls through.

The fire department also wants to build a fourth station in the vicinity of Hodge Road to decrease response time.

The hardest part is finding land, though.

“Just like builders compete for land, we compete as well,” Cone said. “For years, we’ve been looking for a better response option on Hodge Road. … We have entertained several parcels. We’ve not been successful through the first part of my tenure here.”

Now the fire department has the option to buy land in the area that will help lower response times while giving them easy access to Knightdale Boulevard and Interstate 87, Cone said. He hopes to finalize the purchase before the end of the current fiscal year in June.

Summers said construction of the two fire stations and the renovation of the public safety building could start in fiscal year 2023 or even sooner with staff moving into the buildings in fiscal year 2024.

The town has a closed-session meeting scheduled later in the month to discuss the land purchases, Summers said.

The council also received an update on its fiscal year 2021 strategic implementation plan. It selected 36 goals it wanted town staff to move forward on, such as developing native planting guidelines for public properties and future developments.

Town staff expects to be able to complete around 78% of the projects before June.

“That’s about a C-plus. That doesn’t cut it,” Summers said Saturday.

All of the projects that weren’t completed could be traced back to COVID-19 complications and will be carried forward into the fiscal year 2022 strategic implementation plan, he said.