Prairie Grove looks at land for fire department substation
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/65035/
PRAIRIE GROVE — The city will have another shot at a new fire department substation Monday morning. The City Council met at a special meeting Friday to discuss bidding on a piece of property and building at a foreclosure auction at the Washington County Courthouse.
Alderman Murphy Pair said the 4, 032-square-foot building off of Little Elm Road one-quarter mile off of U. S. Highway 62 would be a good location for an additional station.
“ We need to keep that substation in the Highway 170 County Road 19 area, ” he said. “ It gives us the best response time to the outlying areas and in town. ”
The city originally wanted to build the substation on a parcel of donated land off Giles Road, but a failed New Year’s Day annexation election changed the city’s growth direction. The nearby Valley View subdivision was annexed into Farmington.
Mayor Sonny Hudson said the building the city is looking at purchasing is a warehouse-type structure that used to house a honey company. He told the council the purchase would get them the building and the 1. 3-acre plot it rests on.
Alderman thought attempting to acquire the land and building through the bidding process might save the city money in the long run. Lots in that area generally cost $ 150, 000- $ 200, 000, according to Hudson.
Pair said he thought the group should at least try to get a bargain on the land before looking for something it would have to purchase at full price.
He added that if the building was successfully purchased, it wouldn’t mean the city was going to hire new personnel for the department or purchase new vehicles. He thought it would probably just move an already existing employee and vehicle to man the station. He stated that a whole new set of fire station employees and vehicles would be something the city would have to work into.
Larry Oelrich, city business manager, said the money that could be used to bid on and possibly purchase the building would come out of the general fund and the city’s capital improvement funds. He said it would probably wipe out the capital improvement fund, which is funded by a quarter-cent sales tax, but that the tax, which has about eight more months before it needs to be voted on again, would probably generate a lot of that money back in the meantime.
Hudson said the city also needs to consider its Insurance Services Office rating, which is used as a basis for homeowner’s insurance rates. He said it’s not an immediate problem, but based on the city’s growth, another fire station would ensure that Prairie Grove keeps its ISO rating of 3, which he called one of the lowest in Northwest Arkansas.