South Whidbey Fire/EMS received a letter of completion from Island County Planning & Community Development on its plat application to allow for two public accesses at the proposed new Bayview facility.

The district removed language from its plat in August which had restricted it to one public access from Bayview Road. The update allows a road to be accessed near the side of the parking lot beside the building as well as where the fire trucks leave the station and merge onto Bayview Road, between the Good Cheer Food Bank and the Old Bayview School. At Thursday night’s regular monthly meeting, Chief Rusty Palmer said the district hopes to receive a final determination from the county March 2.

The plat update is part of the district’s site-plan work with the proposed facility.

Once the final determination is completed, Palmer said the county will begin working on construction documents, estimated to take about three months to be finalized. Palmer expects to have the building permit by mid-June. The fire station is estimated to cost $5.4 million and take up to two years for construction.