Fire Department nabs land for new station

The deal, to be closed within a week, marks 8.5 acres of land at Berkeley Drive and Blackman Road as the future site of Fire Station No. 12. Plans are too preliminary to estimate a completion date, but requests for proposals will be sent out to four architects in the next month, said Assistant Fire Chief Steve Hoerning.

The project will cost about $1.5 million, to be paid from a level property tax referendum approved by voters in February 2004.

Hoerning said the new station will be downsized slightly from the last three new stations and should be closer to the size of station No. 5, which is 10,200 square feet.

“We’ll have a community room and a walking track that we plan to build within the existing woods on that property, so it’ll be a nice nature trail,” he said.

The station will serve the district east of Highway 65.

City Utilities will use the money from the sale of the land to assist people within the city limits who access their water through wells.

“It’s good environmentally and economically,” Hoerning said. “It’s a win-win situation.”