The City of Waynesboro will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the long-awaited West End fire department substation on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
The new station will be located on Lew Dewitt Blvd., off of Osage Lane, across the street from Bottles and Zeus Theater.
Waynesboro Mayor Lana Williams and City Manager Mike Hamp are expected to make short remarks at the ceremony.
The “notice of award” for the Waynesboro Fire Department Station 2 was issued in August. Lantz Construction is in charge of the groundbreaking ceremony, according to city leaders.
Waynesboro voters approved a referendum supporting the construction of a West End fire substation in 2007.
Hamp previously told AFP that there were multiple reasons for the delay:
- Working on the design has taken time; want the station to be as functional as possible
- Difficult labor market
- Work on project was “impacted” by employee turnover in the A&E (architectural and engineering) firm
- The fire substation in Waynesboro is not the only project the A&E firm was working on
The new station should allow the fire department the ability to respond to calls on the western side of the city within 5 minutes, 20 seconds, an estimated 90 percent of the time, according to a staff report from 2022. The staff report showed that calls answered and dispatched to the western part of the city from the current station on West Broad Street only hits that goal 35 percent of the time.
“As mayor during the pandemic, it became readily apparent that the need to invest in a West End station was not only vital to protect the health, safety and public welfare of our growing community but for our incredible team of fire fighters,” said Terry Short, City Council member and former mayor, who is running for the Ward B seat in November.
“I am grateful that after all this time, Tuesday is the day.”
The city closed on the property on Dec. 29, 2022.
AFP has sent a request to the city for more information on the construction and property cost and timeline.
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Crystal Graham
