The Aurora City Council is set to vote on buying about a three-acre site on Eola Road for a new far East Side fire station.
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Aldermen will vote to spend $950,000 to buy two parcels at 7S330 Eola Road, just south of Liberty Street. Because aldermen placed the item on the consent agenda for the Sept. 12 regular City Council meeting, it is likely to be approved.
Dan Osman, Aurora deputy fire chief, said the location grew out of a study the Aurora Fire Department did two years ago looking at locations for two new fire stations.
The study based the optimum locations on the previous three years fire calls and how fast response times were. It was not based on what actual properties were available, Osman said.
The optimum location for the new Fire Station 13 – needed because of far East Side growth and the potential growth in the Farnsworth Avenue corridor – was at Weber Street and Eola Road.
Alex Minella, of the city’s Economic Development office, told aldermen the city contacted five different property owners in the area near that location. Three responded, and the city ended negotiating with the owner at 7S330 Eola Road.
The original asking price was $1.2 million, Minella said, and the city negotiated that to $950,000.
The property is considered underutilized in the parlance of the city’s economic development officials. It was annexed in 2005 and zoned Office with a Special Use, originally intended for the construction of a U.S. Post Office which never happened.
At this week’s Committee of the Whole meeting, some alderman asked about busy traffic on Eola Road, and how that would affect firefighters ability to exit the site.
Ald. Shweta Baid Ward, 10th Ward, asked if heavy traffic would be a problem for exiting fire trucks.
Osman said traffic is “always a concern,” but that “with lights and sirens on, we can exit.”
Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, asked if there was a way to turn left onto Eola Road from the site, and Osman answered, “there will be.”
The new Fire Station 13, which will also serve as a training center, will replace the existing Station 9 at 2339 Diehl Road. The current staff at the station will transfer to the new Station 13.
Station 9 will continue in operation until the new station is built and in operation. Once the former station is retired from operation, the real estate will be marketed for redevelopment opportunities, city officials said.