The Athens-Clarke County Commission finally approved a new location for an Eastside fire station last week, rejecting an effort to restart the site selection process for a third time.
A site selection committee recommended the Old Lexington Road-Morton Road intersection for a new fire station to replace the one on Whit Davis Road, built in 1974. Commissioners rejected that site last year due to opposition from rural residents and adjusted the criteria, but a second process resulted in the same recommendation.
Six commissioners—Melissa Link, Tiffany Taylor, Allison Wright, John Culpepper, Carol Myers and Mike Hamby—voted in favor of Myers’ commission-defined option approving the recommended site at a price $50,000 less than the $487,000 proposed by staff, while also putting in place measures to address lighting and disruption to livestock. Commissioners Patrick Davenport, Stephanie Johnson and Dexter Fisher (a candidate for mayor) wanted to scrap the proposal and start over. Taylor seconded Davenport’s motion but ended up supporting Myers’. Commissioner Ovita Thornton was absent.
Critics said the recommended site would disrupt their pastoral way of life, with fire trucks potentially spooking horses and cattle. They also questioned the price tag for the 7.5-acre property identified. “This station at 4730 [Old Lexington Road] will benefit me, but I have to listen to these people,” Davenport said. “They’re my neighbors.”
Several opponents pointed to an International Association of Fire Fighters study that recommended a fire station off Lexington Road, in a more highly populated area. But that study was commissioned two years ago, before the criteria for the new fire station were set
“The study was designed as a risk assessment and planning tool for future personnel placement. It was not tied to moving Fire Station 5,” Fire Chief Nate Moss said, reading a letter from Emily Alger, president of the local firefighters union.
“The bottom line is, Fire Station 5 is inadequate, outdated and no longer meets the needs of our firefighters or the community,” the letter from Alger continued. “Athens-Clarke County urgently needs a Fire Station 5 within the identified service area to maintain strong fire protection and medical services for southeastern Athens.”
Moss said the goal is to increase coverage in underserved areas. The fire department deals with population growth by adding staff and trucks to existing stations. The new Fire Station 5 would include just one truck and respond to about three calls a day, 60% of them medical, he said. It would provide faster responses for approximately 800 residents in the far corner of the county, reducing responses by three to six minutes, while reducing the overlap with other stations.
“Please listen to the recommendation our fire chief has made,” Myers asked her colleagues. “Respect his position and expertise. He is our chief. If we’re not listening to him, we should be talking to the manager about [replacing] the chief.”
The local government’s purchase of the property would not affect property assessments because the tax assessor’s office would not use it as a comparison, Assistant Manager Andrew Saunders said. The county had made an offer of $50,000 an acre for another parcel that was rejected, and nearby commercial properties were selling for as much as $80,000 an acre, he said.
The drawn-out, contentious process also raised questions about how Athens-Clarke County handles SPLOST projects. “I compare our government to other counties, and it is backwards. It is laborious. It is long. It is unexplainable. Projects go over budget,” Johnson said.
During the public comment period, several speakers asked the commission to provide city water for the Pinewoods mobile home community, where an aging pipe system frequently forces shutdowns, as previously reported in Flagpole. Typically property owners are responsible for the cost of tying into the water system and making repairs on their own property, and it was unclear why Pine Wood Estates MHC and Country Corners MHP, listed on tax rolls as the owners, have not done so.
In addition, Allen Jones, a former commission candidate who served on the advisory committee for the 2023 transportation sales tax referendum, questioned why the proposed TSPLOST 2026 list did not include any projects for the Westside, like finishing a multi-use path along Timothy Road and Mitchell Bridge Road.
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