photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Fire Chief Joe Hardy speaks to the Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.

Years after a study said it might have to move, Lawrence’s new city manager says Fire Station 3 on Sixth Street is already in “the perfect place,” and that renovating it instead of relocating it could save millions of dollars.

On Tuesday, city commissioners unanimously approved a $425,000 contract for what City Manager Majed Al-Ghafry described as Phase 1 of the renovation of the fire station at 3708 W. Sixth St. The contract is for exterior repairs to the building, which has leaks and signs of wear and tear.

Al-Ghafry also told the commissioners that he and Fire Chief Joe Hardy recently had “a very robust conversation” about the future of Fire Station 3.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical regularly does what it calls a “station optimization analysis” – basically, a study that looks at travel times from fire stations to determine where there are gaps in coverage. Previous studies had shown not only the need for a new station in northwest Lawrence – the soon-to-be-built Station 6 – but also the need to relocate Station 3.

However, Al-Ghafry said he and Hardy had reached the conclusion that Station 3 wouldn’t need to move after all. Relocating the station could cost between $12 million and $16 million over the next four or five years, Al-Ghafry said, but renovating it would cost about $5 million in total.

Hardy said that there was no overall timeline yet.

“That’s something for us to discuss in the future, but there are phases, so we can start incorporating that,” he said.

A memo from city staff did discuss some of the station’s needs. It said the station had “reached the end of its useful life in its current configuration” and that it will need expansions and additions in the future, including more space in the vehicle bays, electrical and plumbing work, improvements to accommodations and equipment storage and a larger exercise room.

Mayor Brad Finkeldei said that this station “doesn’t have some of the (same) amenities as some of the others,” and he and Commissioner Mike Dever had even heard of the station’s staff doing some renovation work to the building on their own in the past.

Commissioners also asked about the possibility of a fire station in North Lawrence, specifically one that would serve the airport. Hardy acknowledged that as the airport pursues the ability to serve larger jets, that will be a challenge the fire department has to look at.

More information about LDCFM’s optimization study will come before the commission at a future date, and Finkeldei said he looked forward to it.