Letter to the Editor: Where Should New Fire Stations Go?

March 27, 2013

Mayor and City Council Members

City of Canton

City Hall

151 Elizabeth Street

Canton, GA 30114

 Re: The Need for Three New Fire Stations

Dear Mr. Mayor and Members of the City Council:

Following the failed fire bond referendum vote, there still seems to be sentiment among most of you to find other ways to build one or more of the fire stations that would have been funded by the bonds had they been approved. I wish to propose a different set of conclusions for your consideration, i.e., that one of the stations (at Laurel Canyon) is redundant and completely unnecessary, the second (near the new Northside Hospital site) is probably redundant and unnecessary, and the third (on Bluffs Parkway) is indeed needed.

Laurel Canyon Site. Consider the following:

1. County Station No. 9 on GA 140 is 1.0 mile from the entrances to both Laurel Canyon and Great Sky.

2. The existing homes (those in the Morning Mist neighborhood) in Great Sky that are farthest from its GA 140 entrance are 2.6 miles from that entrance, and so are 3.6 miles from County No. 9.

3. The home sites (the still undeveloped sites in the master plan) in Soleil in Laurel Canyon that are farthest from its GA 140 entrance are no more than 3.0 miles from that entrance, and so are no more than 4.0 miles from County No. 9.

4. The Soleil community consists of residents over 55 years old. Most are in their 60s, 70s and up. Many Great Sky residents are also in this age range, including my wife and me. In both these communities, the homes were built relatively recently, and were constructed in accordance with the current fire code. The need here for firefighting service is minimal but the need for EMS service is not.

5. County No. 9 includes EMS service, along with firefighting service. A city-built station near the GA 140 entrance to Great Sky and Soleil/Laurel Canyon, while it would be 1.0 closer, would not include EMS service.

6. The County recognizes the need to upgrade the structure of County No. 9 and will do so unless the City builds a station at Laurel Canyon. The County would use existing funds to accomplish the necessary upgrade.

7. What possible advantage, you must ask yourselves, is there to using City taxpayer funds to build, equip and staff on an ongoing basis a new station at Laurel Canyon, when the County already has a station only one mile farther down the road that is already equipped and staffed, and the structure for which will be upgraded at no cost to City taxpayers. If your response is that the savings of one mile in response time is important and worth the expense, then by that logic we should be sure every plot of residential and commercial land in the City is no more than one all-important mile from a fire station, and we should construct enough stations in the City to meet that all-important one mile criterion. Such a conclusion is, of course, absurd.

8. Conclusion. The Laurel Canyon station is redundant and completely unnecessary, and would be a sorrowful waste of City taxpayer funding. County No. 9 can serve its communities just as well as it has served them over the past ten years and beyond. And can do so at no or very little increased cost. It is already fully equipped, it is already fully staffed, and it needs only to have its structure upgraded, for which I understand monies have already been set aside.

New Northside Hospital Site. Consider the following:

1. The Canton Marketplace and its surrounding neighborhoods, which the new hospital site abuts, is now served by the City’s downtown station (2.3 miles from downtown to Dick’s/Target) and/or by County Station No. 3 on GA 140 (3.9 miles to Dick’s/Target via the circuitous route of GA 140, Scott Road and GA 20).

2. When the new hospital road is complete, County No. 3 will be 1.4 from its entrance at GA 140 and, at most, another 1.0 mile to Dick’s/Target, a total distance of, at most, 2.4 miles.

3. County No. 3 can provide EMS service that a new City station will not have available.

4. I am uncertain as to the current staffing and equipping of County No. 3. In addition, its structure likely needs upgrading, but I have no knowledge of whether the County has plans to do this.

5. Conclusion. The current county station will be in an excellent position to provide rapid response times once the new hospital road is complete, making a City station in or around the new hospital and Canton Marketplace unnecessary. However, it would be important to know more about the County’s staffing, equipping and structural upgrade plans before making a final determination. At this point, it appears that the need for the City to build, equip and staff a new station at this location is probably redundant, unnecessary and a waste of City taxpayer funding.

Bluffs Parkway Site. Consider the following:

1. There is a currently underserved corridor that extends from Bluffs Parkway on the south to Towne Mill and Summer Walk on the north and northeast. This corridor will become much denser as the economy improves, and as more businesses locate on Bluffs Parkway and as more home sites in Towne Mill and Summer Walk are built out.

2. There are three fire stations currently close enough to be considered as serving this corridor.

3. The City’s downtown station is 3.3 miles from the County Administration Building on Bluffs Parkway, the south end of the corridor, but 5.3 miles from the center of the corridor (the tennis courts of Towne Mill) and 6.5 miles from the north end of the corridor (the Lower Bethany Road entrance to Towne Mill).

4. County Station No. 6 on Land Road in Clayton is 2.8 miles from the north entrance to Towne Mill, but 4.0 miles from the Towne Mill courts in the center and 6.0 miles from the County Building on the south.

5. County Station No. 21 on Ball Ground Highway near the airport is 2.8 miles from the north entrance to Towne Mill, 3.5 miles from the Towne Mill courts in the center, but 5.1 miles from the County Building on the south.

6. A new fire station on Bluffs Parkway on property already owned by the City about a quarter a mile north of the County Building is ideally suited to handle firefighting services in this corridor.

7. Conclusion.Except that the City would have to arrange EMS services from the County, a new fire station at the Bluffs Parkway location is needed. The need will grow even more urgent as more businesses occupy Bluffs Parkway and as more homes are built in Summer Walk and Towne Mill. This location is also quite convenient to the Riverstone commercial area and, in tandem with the City’s existing downtown station, would upgrade the firefighting coverage there.

Rather than diving headlong into spending money to build one absolutely redundant and unnecessary fire station and one probably redundant and unnecessary one, I urge you to consider the facts and distances I have described above as you deliberate spending City tax dollars on additional fire services. Thank you for your studied consideration of this unsolicited commentary.

Sincerely,

Clark J. Yaggy