THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300302
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
The city has found its fire station property.
The Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County Board of Education and the City Council formally agreed in separate meetings Monday to trade some downtown land that will give Elizabeth City a fire station and the middle school some breathing room.
Under the trade, the city gets 12,000 square feet at the corner of Glade and Harney streets, near Sheep-Harney Elementary School. The agreement approved by both boards Monday requires the city to use the land for a fire station.
In exchange, the School Board gets property provides access to the middle school from Martin Street.
``It's a done deal,'' Mayor H. Rick Gardner said Monday night. ``We will be building a fire station over on the corner of Harney and Glade. I have asked the city manager to notify the architect to proceed with the preliminary drawing.
``It will probably take us nine months to complete everything and have it open.''
Gardner said the station was projected to cost about $250,000.
The deal ends a tortuous search process launched by the City Council nearly two years ago when its Elizabeth Street fire station was ruled unsafe to occupy. The council had since considered a half-dozen alternatives for a new station and failed to agree on any until negotiations with the School Board began.
School board members were also happy with the agreement.
``We feel like this is a good exchange for everybody involved,'' School Board Finance Committee Chairman Matt Wood said.
``I think we feel good about the fire station being adjacent to our Sheep-Harney Elementary School.'' Also under the agreement, the city's Fire Department will burn down five vacant Pearl Street houses owned by the school system, also near the middle school.
``It seems sort of strange to hear the School Board asking the city to burn down houses,'' Wood said, explaining that the burning ``greatly reduces the expense to the School Board of having to dispose of the debris.''
The board wants to clear the houses to expand middle school property, providing more space for buses, parking and activities. Wood said clearing away the houses would also improve the neighborhood. by CNB