Waynesboro, finally, moving forward with proposed West End fire substation

Waynesboro voters, way, way back in 2007, approved a referendum to have the city build a fire department substation in the West End.

The City Council, led by former Mayor Frank Lucente, moved to block the project, citing a technicality with the publication of a legal notice in the local newspaper, and 15 years later, there is no fire station approved by the voters.

The current City Council is, finally, righting the wrong from 15 years ago.

“I am pleased to share that after all this time, that this membership of the Waynesboro City Council has taken action, and are fulfilling that directive,” City Councilman Terry Short wrote recently on Facebook.

The Waynesboro Planning Commission will get the first crack at the proposed fire station on Tuesday, with an item on the public body’s agenda requesting confirmation that the proposed location for the fire station complies with the city’s Comprehensive Plan.

According to a staff report filed in connection with the Planning Commission request, the city is currently in talks to purchase two parcels of land on Osage Lane, adjacent to the Zeus Theatre and Bottles restaurant in the Lew Dewitt Boulevard corridor.

The location would seem ideal to connect to West Main Street and the Rosser Avenue/I-64 corridor.

The proposed location would allow the city fire department the ability to respond to calls on the western side of the city within the targeted response time of 5 minutes, 20 seconds an estimated 90 percent of the time.

Calls answered on the western part of the city from the current station, located at 300 W. Broad St., hit this objective only 35 percent of the time, according to the staff report.

“This location is ideally situated to provide fire support services for our community for generations to come,” Short said.

Funding for the purchase of the land and construction would come from funds that the city has been setting aside over the past several city budget cycles, Short said.

“We do not anticipate the need to seek additional tax revenue to finance the purchase of the land, or the ultimate construction,” Short said.