THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 2, 1995 TAG: 9505020271
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
A City Council search committee recommended Monday that the city build a fire station on its own property, on the north end of town.
Councilman David Bosomworth, chairman of the three-member committee, suggested that the council look to 3.7 acres on Knobbs Creek Drive and U.S. Route 17 North for the new station, which would replace a condemned station on Elizabeth Street.
The council voted to begin the process of rezoning, which could lead to a public hearing as early as next month.
Bosomworth said several sites had been considered for the station in the past six or nine months and that the current property had been purchased with the idea that it might someday be used as a fire station.
``The price is right. We alreadyown it,'' Bosomworth said of the decision after the meeting. ``That's an important consideration. Every dollar we save on land acquisition, we can spend on bricks and mortar.
Bosomworth estimated that a ``modest'' station could cost around $600,000 to construct.
He said he did not think rezoning the property from residential to an office district would be a problem.
``I hope not,'' Bosomworth said. ``I would hope that residents would welcome a fire station.''
The property, currently the home of an electric substation, contains about 49,000 square feet of wetlands, City Manager Ralph Clark said. But the city should be allowed to fill in the area, he said, because it is less than an acre and is not connected to other wetlands.
KEYWORDS: FIRE DEPARTMENT ELIZABETH CITY by CNB