By Shawn Skager
The Courier-Herald
The Buckley City Council will host a public hearing at 6 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Buckley Multipurpose Center, 811 Main St., to gather information regarding the placement of the city's proposed new fire station.
On the agenda for the council on Sept. 27 was a resolution naming the city-owned Miller property, near downtown, as the new designated site.
After a presentation by Fire Chief Alan Predmore, detailing the reasons for the selection of the new site and why previous sites were unusable, councilmember Beverley Schneider questioned the placement of the site on the Miller property.
"I understood this was going to be earmarked for parks," Schneider said. "We don't have enough parks in Buckley right now."
Schneider also expressed concern the new station's 2.5-acre footprint - intended for the station, training area and parking - would be out of place among park land.
Currently the Miller property is earmarked for parks and senior citizen housing, in conjunction with the White River Senior Housing Authority.
But Mayor John Blanusa said the city is free to use the property anyway it sees fit.
"The city owns that property with no strings attached," Blanusa said. "I made sure of that when we bought it."
Previously, the city considered property along Ryan Road and state Route 165, as well as the current site of the city's Public Works yard along River Road, across from the skate park.
The Ryan Road site was found unsuitable because of the percentage of wetlands, according to Planning Director Dan Staley.
"Various analysis show that at least 50 percent of the parcel is wetland," he said.
The required mitigation makes the property cost prohibitive to the city.
The Public Works yard was deemed unsuitable because of the narrowness of the lot, which would not support the desired footprint of the building.
"That site is problematic because of the traffic on River Road and especially the narrowness of the parcel," Staley said.
The resolution designating the Miller property got as far as a vote, before the vote was rescinded in favor of the public hearing.
Councilmembers Jan Twardoski and Schneider voted against the designation. Randy Reed, Ron Weigelt and Zoe Krieger voted in favor of the designation. Councilmember Marilyn Gregg was absent, and Pat Johnson's vote was not counted before the vote was rescinded.
In addition to the public meeting, the city will contact and discuss the new station with citizens who reside near the Miller property.
The city is expected to propose a bond issue to Buckley residents in early 2006, to pay for the fire station.
"Everybody wants to get a new station for the fire department, they deserve it," Twardoski said. "I'm just not comfortable with how fast this has gone through, I think we need to slow down."
Shawn Skager can be reached at sskager@courierherald.com.
