After delaying plans for a fire station on city-owned open space two months ago, the Maumelle City Council agreed Monday to instead buy 6.04 acres for the station and possible future city use.
Mayor Mike Watson gave the council two options: Buy the 6.04 acres at Club Manor Drive and Odom Boulevard South for $855,083 or buy only 1.31 acres inside that property for $185,471.
Aldermen voted 6-2 for the full acreage. Aldermen Ken Saunders and Steve Mosley voted no, favoring only buying the smaller part.
Both aldermen were also the no votes on a subsequent 6-2 approval of the funds to buy the property. The extra acreage will require using $669,612 from the city's general fund, with the rest being from bond proceeds.
"If we're going to decide to buy land, the better-valued land is the full 6 acres," Alderman Caleb Norris said during a 45-minute discussion.
The fire station is to replace an outdated station on Millwood Circle. Maumelle voters approved a bond package in 2012 that included a new fire station, but no specific location was presented to voters.
A proposal in March to build the station on open space owned by the city not very far from the approved 6 acres was put on hold after a number of neighborhood residents objected to having a fire station adjacent to their houses.
Watson's latest proposal came after he evaluated several other sites within the city, but all were much pricier, he said, than the property voted on Monday.
For the city to buy the smaller parcel, it would be required to build a road along with it that would enhance the value of the remaining, privately owned lots, Watson said.
"If we build a roadway, we would improve that land for somebody else," Watson said. "If we're putting an investment of a road in there, why not get the benefit of that investment?"
Saunders spoke against buying the larger site, saying that the city would be buying "excess land" for which it didn't have a specific use planned.
"I think it's a speculation based on an assumption that we can build something on it later," Saunders said.
Alderman Burch Johnson countered that the city would have a use for the property at some point, instead of losing its chance to do something with it if the council passed on the purchase.
"I don't mind a little speculation," Johnson said. "If it's good for the city in the long run, that's what counts."
Watson agreed, saying later during the discussion that Maumelle purchased 640 acres in 2000 on the edge of the city that now includes the city's youth baseball and softball complex.
"Was that a good idea at the time or not?" Watson said.
Alderman Preston Lewis mentioned that the city is considering building a new Senior Wellness Center "that will need a location" that the additional land within the 6 acres could offer.
When asked which of the sites, including the original city-owned location, might be better tactically for the Fire Department, interim Chief John Payne told the council that because firetrucks would have to maneuver through the same intersection on calls, there wouldn't be a difference.
Also during the meeting, Watson released preliminary results of a survey sent to 7,720 households to gauge support for any of seven proposed bond projects, including the new Senior Wellness Center. With 760 surveys returned as of Monday morning, Watson said, the only projects earning a majority support were the wellness center (50.39 percent), City Hall renovation (54.74 percent) and adding fields to the Diamond Center T-ball and softball fields (51.84 percent).
Metro on 05/20/2014