Roswell Council Defers Fire Station Decision

It was a definite case of not-in-my-backyard thinking last night, April 25, at the Roswell City Council meeting regarding a new East Roswell fire station. In the end, no action was taken, but the council heard an overwhelming urge to continue searching for a better location than the two main sites that are now proposed at Big Creek and Terramont parks.

The city needs to replace Fire Station 4, which is currently located on Holcomb Bridge. But to maintain specific fire safety standards they must rebuild within a certain area. Construction on the current station location – one of the options – worries Roswell Fire Chief Ricky Spencer because it means fire response would come from a station that is farther away from East Roswell for the 12 to 18 months it would take to rebuild.

While no one disputes a new station is needed, citizens on both sides of the issue tossed out reasons why a new station would be better suited for the site in which they had less of a stake – if it had to be built on one of the two at all.

Residents within the Terramont subdivision worried over the possibility of decreased property values if a station were to be built within their neighborhood.

Any loss in value to a $150,000 home would have quite an impact, Terramont resident Jonathan Smith told the council.

“I don’t want to see it in my neighborhood,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Roswell-Alpharetta Mountain Bike Organization (RAMBO) decried the possibility of losing any of the Big Creek parkland or mountain biking trails.

“I understand that people don’t want certain things in their backyard, but I don’t want trees cut down,” said Brad Wender, president of the RAMBO.

Several residents cautioned the council on using parkland to build the station, calling it a “slippery slope” to use land that was purchased with a bond referendum specifically approved for parkland. The parks are under consideration because they are city-owned and would lessen the financial impact to the city. Cost estimates project a new station built on city property would cost between $3.5 and $3.6 million. No estimates were given for building on land not owned by the city.

Both council members and residents wondered why it seemed the city had stopped researching new sites for the station.

“I hate to think we’re going to spend several million dollars and then find out there was a more suitable location for it,” Smith said.

Councilwoman Nancy Diamond gave a lengthy speech about the search for a location and told council she had eliminated Terramont as an option in her mind.

The motion to defer making any sort of decision was approved unanimously.