City Council approves plans for two new fire stations

Another piece of the detailed task of building two new fire stations in Kinston has fallen into place with the City Council’s approval of the final plans for those stations on Tuesday.

City officials have been working for several years to replace the fire stations. Kinston’s main fire station was relocated from King Street to East Vernon Avenue, and opened in the summer of 2008. Officials have since been working to secure land and financing to replace the remaining two, at an estimated cost of $2.7 million.

“We’ll still have three (stations),” City Manager Scott Stevens said. “They’ll just be better-positioned to respond to the city as it exists today.”

Fire Station 2 — currently housed in an aging 4,000-square foot facility along Plaza Boulevard — will move to a 6,000 square-foot structure at Rouse and Carey roads. The N.C. Department of Transportation will extend Carey by 800 to 1,000 feet and the new station will be placed along the extension, City Manager Scott Stevens said.

“The additional square footage will eliminate the need (for firefighters) to share beds,” city Project Coordinator Diadra Powell told the council.

The station, which Powell said will be made of “brick and metal,” will have two vehicle bays for fire apparatus.

The second fire station, Fire Station 3, will be build along Hill Farm Road behind the Walmart shopping center.

Fire Station 3’s current home is what was meant to be a temporary facility built in 1998 along Hull Road, Stevens said.

The new station will be 6,000 square feet, will feature expanded living space and vehicle space, and will also be made of brick and metal, according to Powell.

The land for both sites was acquired last November, and city officials plan to put the plans out for bid during October.

Stevens said that, once the bids come back, the council and N.C. Local Government Commission will give the city approval to secure financing from a bank.

Once the fire stations are built, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development office — which has funded many public works projects in and around Kinston, including Fire Station 1 and the WASA water treatment plant — will cover the city’s construction costs with grants up to $400,000 and loans for the rest.

“At the end of the day, we’ll owe about $2.3 million to USDA,” Stevens explained.

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.