OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — The city of Overland Park could soon repurpose a permanently closed pool into a hub for first responders.  

On Monday, the Overland Park Planning Commission approved a 3-year special use permit (SUP) to allow for a temporary fire station at the former Marty Pool site.

Marty Pool was decommissioned earlier this year. Now city leaders will consider using the pool house as a temporary replacement for Fire Station No. 41.  

The city intends to demolish the Marty Memorial Fire Station at 75th Street and Conser Street and construct a new fire station in its place. The pool house building will be redeveloped to serve as a temporary home to the Overland Park Fire Department during the 14-month construction period. 

A new roof would be added over the existing pool house breezeway, and the existing covered patio on the north side of the property would be closed-in to serve as a new dayroom. The pool house interior would be retrofitted to create a bunk room, restrooms, a new kitchen, office space and a place for gear storage.

The retrofitted pool house will provide office and living space for up to five firefighters at a time.

“We’re at the spot we need to be,” Overland Park Fire Chief Bryan Dehner said. “For two years worth of time, we are going to do our best to try to figure out a way that we can shoehorn our personnel and the best plan possible in some space we currently have.”

If plans are approved, Johnson County Med-Act will temporarily relocate to the station in Merriam. Dehner said during the transition, Fire Station No. 41 operations will be reduced to a single fire truck and a squad medical unit. 

The proposed SUP will now progress to the Overland Park City Council for final approval. If the SUP is approved, work on the former pool site would begin in the spring of 2023. 

Once the new fire station is complete, the pool house will be demolished and the property will be converted back into a public park without a pool or pool house.