The Maumelle City Council will take up two options to buy property for a fire station at its meeting Monday night. Both proposals are alternatives to the previous plan to build the station on city-owned land currently used as open space -- a suggestion criticized by residents of nearby neighborhoods.
Both options -- 6.04 acres or a 1.31-acre lot within that larger area -- are next to First Christian Church on Club Manor Drive behind the Kroger grocery.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m.
If the council decides to buy only the smaller property for the fire station, the cost will be $185,471, according to legislation. If the larger site is chosen, the cost will be $855,083, which would include the smaller lot as well.
Maumelle Mayor Mike Watson said he "didn't want to have to come back to the council" at its next meeting in two weeks if only one option were proposed and then rejected.
"I decided this was the best method," Watson said of providing both options as separate resolutions. "It'll be up to the council to consider the smaller portion for the fire station or if they want to purchase the entire tract for a fire station and a future use."
The new fire station will replace the former central station on Millwood Circle. The city opened a new fire headquarters on its north side in 2009.
In October 2012, Maumelle voters approved an extension of the city's property tax for three capital projects that included the new fire station. No specific location was included on the ballot.
Watson presented a resolution at the council meeting March 17 that would have placed the fire station on open space near Club Manor Drive and Odom Boulevard South, very near the current options. But homeowners from Club Manor Drive and Hogan Drive complained during that meeting about that location backing up to their homes.
The council agreed to delay any action to allow Watson time to search for other suitable sites.
Five other sites Watson considered were $3.50 to $8.50 more per square foot than the square-foot price for either the small lot or the entire 6 acres being considered, according to a listing included in the council's agenda packet.
Purchasing the full 6 acres would use a combination of $185,471 in bond proceeds and $669,612 from the city's general fund. If the 1.31 acres are bought, only the bond proceeds will be necessary, Watson said.
City Alderman Preston Lewis, who represents the neighborhood's ward with Alderman Burch Johnson, said he believed the neighborhood residents are satisfied with the alternative locations and expects one or the other choices to win the council's approval.
"I would be shocked if there is a scenario where the council rejected both of those and we go back to the open space issue," Lewis said. "I just don't see that happening.
"To them, [the neighborhood residents,] the issue was just a matter of protecting their property and their property value," he added. "I think having the station on the open space was their main concern."
If either one of the land purchase options is chosen, Watson said the open space will remain as just that.
"It'll just be like it's always been," Watson said. "It will remain as city-only property and remain as an open space. It's a place where kids go to fly kites and practice football. If we put something there, that would take away from the ability to do those things."
The city also is surveying city residents on possible future bond projects that include a renovated City Hall and a new Senior Wellness Center to replace the one that officials say has outgrown its space as part of the City Hall complex. A preliminary report on survey results will be presented Monday, Watson said.
Lewis has suggested rethinking those bond proposals to become part of the land purchase for the fire station and building a complex to include a new City Hall, a new Senior Center and the fire station.
"The problem I see now is that the bond process has pitched a lot of parties against each other with competing wants and needs," Lewis said. "I'm very open to buying the entire property. Sometimes in the city we think so incrementally. Do you want piecemeal or do you want to look to the future?"
Metro on 05/18/2014