by James Coulter
Residents living south of Lake Wales can expect a new fire station to be built on Nest Egg Road now that the Lake Wales City Commission has approved the acquisition of property there.
At their regular meeting on Tues. Nov. 5, Lake Wales city commissioners voted unanimously to approve the consent agenda, which included an item concerning the acquisition of five acres of land on Nest Egg Road.
The property is being considered by the Lake Wales Fire Department as the location of a new fire station. The proposed station would be situated nearly five miles from the main station in town, thus providing quicker response time for emergency calls, Joe Jenkins, City Fire Chief, explained at a workshop last week.
“It [the property] is currently outside of the city limits, but there are plans to annex into city limits,” Deena Drumgo, Assistant City Manager, wrote in a city memo. “This purchase will allow the City to maintain adequate service levels for growth on our southern and eastern boundaries. The City will use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to procure the property.”
The land is being provided by McKenna Brothers, Inc. for the price of $300,000. The land has been appraised for $200,000. Chief Jenkins explained the city should consider acquiring the land now at that price as the land could potentially increase in value or become unavailable.
Now that the agenda item has been approved, the City of Lake Wales has been authorized to approve the vacant land contract with McKenna Brothers, Inc., approve a budget amendment for $300,000, and authorize the city manager to “execute the necessary documents on behalf of the city.”
City Commissioner Robin Gibson requested to pull the agenda item for discussion. He approved the idea of acquiring the land for a new fire station but expressed concern about the price.
“The thing that concerns me at the session was that the property is appraised for $200,000 but we will pay $300,000,” Gibson explained. “That concerns me. I am interested in the price differences and other locations for the branch and fire station. There was a good discussion about it. We are paying so much more than the appraised value, our constituents need to know that.”
City Manager James Slaton replied that the property was chosen because of its availability and its location. He explained that the City had reached out to other property owners, but many properties were not available for sale. He also explained that the location was the most opportune to provide expedient response times for emergency calls, especially in light of future growth.
“We called out the best piece of properties for the citizens, and we have other land owners that are unable to sell some property, so the location was selected because of its geography,” he said.
Chief Jenkins assured the commission that the site was not chosen “arbitrarily.” He and his crew studied the area for potential sites for future fire stations, and the property on Nest Egg Road proved to be the most opportune in terms of location and ability.
