Center, fire station deals OK’d by board

The Little Rock Board of Directors unanimously approved two deals Tuesday night, one that will pave the way for a new fire station and another that will provide a new home for an alert center, both in southwest Little Rock.

Both deals were on the board’s consent agenda and were not discussed at Tuesday’s meeting.

The board allocated $500,000 to purchase a 1.46-acre piece of land just north of the intersection of Base Line and Stagecoach roads to eventually build a southwest Little Rock fire station. STAMJA-DT AR Properties LLC currently owns the land.

The city has been searching for more than a year for a place to build the fire station. Fire Chief Greg Summers said last week that when the station is built, it will increase fire, EMT and rescue response times to many of the neighborhoods in southwest Little Rock because of the quick access to major roads such as Stagecoach, Base Line and Interstate 30.

The city does not have plans to begin construction on the station right away, partly because the funding for the construction will come from revenue from the capital portion of the 1 percent sales tax increase that passed in 2011. The capital portion of the tax is set to expire in 2021, and the city has a 10-year building plan for those funds as they are raised.

Revenue has not been increasing at the rate city staff members had projected, so officials said it was hard to give an accurate estimate of when individual projects would move forward.

Once the station is complete, it will house an engine, a rescue truck and 24 firefighters, Summers said.

The board also approved a lease deal with Saint Andrew United Methodist Church on Base Line Road to place a city alert center in some spare space at the church.

The city would pay $10,000 to renovate the office space in lieu of rent until the money is paid back, though the contract states that after the money is paid back, the city will continue to pay no rent.

At-Large Director Joan Adcock asked whether the rental agreement would endanger the church’s tax-exempt status. That question was not answered Tuesday night, but City Attorney Tom Carpenter has said the church’s tax status was not something the city had the duty to consider.

The alert center was located in Baseline Elementary School before the school requested to end the arrangement because of a planned expansion.

The alert center is one of 12 throughout the city that were started in the 1990s as part of an effort to bring more City Hall services such as code enforcement and community policing into the city’s neighborhoods.