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Facility tops City Council agenda
By Justin Jones: justin_jones@terrelltribune.com
Terrell City Council on Tuesday will discuss and consider 6 acres of land the Terrell Economic Development Corporation is donating to the city for a public safety facility.
If approved, the land transfer is subject to construction beginning within 36 months and the city paying all closing cost related to the transfer.
Also, before the facility is built it would have to be voted for in a bond election.
According to Terrell Fire Chief Jim Harper, who was present at a TEDC meeting Jan. 23 on behalf of the city, the public safety facility would contain a police station with future plans to add a fire station.
The facility would be located in Metrocrest Industrial Park.
“It was originally going to be a fire training facility and fire station. The police department was looking for more room and I entertained broadening this facility to include them,” Harper said at the TEDC meeting. “It would be a police station, fairly quickly we hope, with future plans for a fire station. It would be their complete police, court and jail facilities and it would have fire administration out there and a fire station. With the included growth going on out there, it would accommodate some of that.”
Steve Rogers, city engineer, also was at the TEDC meeting and said surveys indicated a fire station would be needed in the area.
“This [location of the land] is almost a pinpoint where the engineer who did the study put the pin on the map [for a new fire station],” Rogers said. “It's a really good fire location.”
Rogers also said the plan is for the facility to be on Tejas Drive, face toward a cul-de-sac and, in terms of visibility, would be seen off State Highway 148.
“The Council has already reviewed this site more than once and we have looked at numerous sites to build a public safety facility,” Rogers said. “This thing lends itself toward being in a good location to get on the interstate and to get around town. It also, in the future, as we need Fire Station No. 3, is at the exact right location. That's why we need to focus on this site.”
Along with construction having to begin within 36 months from the date of conveyance, the city must sign a performance agreement with TEDC.
“According to the engineer study, I need one there and that's a piece of the puzzle that fits so regardless of what happens growth-wise out there, I already need that station there to cover that part of town,” Harper said. “We still get there in a relatively quick time but as traffic continues to increase in Terrell, it becomes harder and harder for us to get out there in a timely manor. So that station is going to need to be there in the very near future.”
In other new business, City Council members also will discuss and consider continuation of funding the Work in Terrell program and appointments to a capital improvement committee.
City Council also will discuss and consider approval of the 2007 Pavement Maintenance program.
If approved, the land transfer is subject to construction beginning within 36 months and the city paying all closing cost related to the transfer.
Also, before the facility is built it would have to be voted for in a bond election.
According to Terrell Fire Chief Jim Harper, who was present at a TEDC meeting Jan. 23 on behalf of the city, the public safety facility would contain a police station with future plans to add a fire station.
The facility would be located in Metrocrest Industrial Park.
“It was originally going to be a fire training facility and fire station. The police department was looking for more room and I entertained broadening this facility to include them,” Harper said at the TEDC meeting. “It would be a police station, fairly quickly we hope, with future plans for a fire station. It would be their complete police, court and jail facilities and it would have fire administration out there and a fire station. With the included growth going on out there, it would accommodate some of that.”
Steve Rogers, city engineer, also was at the TEDC meeting and said surveys indicated a fire station would be needed in the area.
“This [location of the land] is almost a pinpoint where the engineer who did the study put the pin on the map [for a new fire station],” Rogers said. “It's a really good fire location.”
Rogers also said the plan is for the facility to be on Tejas Drive, face toward a cul-de-sac and, in terms of visibility, would be seen off State Highway 148.
“The Council has already reviewed this site more than once and we have looked at numerous sites to build a public safety facility,” Rogers said. “This thing lends itself toward being in a good location to get on the interstate and to get around town. It also, in the future, as we need Fire Station No. 3, is at the exact right location. That's why we need to focus on this site.”
Along with construction having to begin within 36 months from the date of conveyance, the city must sign a performance agreement with TEDC.
“According to the engineer study, I need one there and that's a piece of the puzzle that fits so regardless of what happens growth-wise out there, I already need that station there to cover that part of town,” Harper said. “We still get there in a relatively quick time but as traffic continues to increase in Terrell, it becomes harder and harder for us to get out there in a timely manor. So that station is going to need to be there in the very near future.”
In other new business, City Council members also will discuss and consider continuation of funding the Work in Terrell program and appointments to a capital improvement committee.
City Council also will discuss and consider approval of the 2007 Pavement Maintenance program.
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Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of terrelltribune.com.
JC wrote on Feb 6, 2007 9:03 AM:
" Before we get a new police station we need a police department !!! "
show results wrote on Feb 6, 2007 9:55 AM:
" I feel we need to get results before the city puts anymore money anywhere. So far, very little has impressed me about this city government. "
Agree with JC wrote on Feb 6, 2007 10:22 AM:
" In the past year there has been little to show that TPS is capable of doing anything to deter crime in Terrell "
about time wrote on Feb 6, 2007 11:29 AM:
" It would be great for the industry out there to have a fire station near by and the should not wait for the future, that is the problem now with our city. Why does the police need a jail they never put anyone in it and if they do they will have to be released because the police did not do there job. "
show results wrote on Feb 6, 2007 11:53 AM:
" Well, we all know that they will put it all in one big bond and try to get it passed. I think that will be a mistake. "
DOH wrote on Feb 6, 2007 12:00 PM:
" The land should at least be free....right? Isnt the purchase of the land one of the highest costs of new construction? Will there still be a police station, or substation, downtown? Putting the police station where nobody lives seems to not make much sense. Thats not a slam of the idea, its early in the process, I am just trying to understand it "
OLDnFEEBLE wrote on Feb 6, 2007 1:28 PM:
" I am not necessarily opposed to a new police and/or fire facility. This project might well make a lot of sense. What gives me heartburn is that our city council still does not see the need to hold any public meetings that would allow the police and fire chiefs the opportunity to explain to citizens why these improvements are needed, how much they will cost and exactly how they will benefit the community. What I do not want to see in my mailbox is another self-serving flyer from the city selling a bond election. How many more bond defeats will it take before this council realizes they need to come to the citizens - in an open forum - to explain and justify bond proposals? "
fire supporter wrote on Feb 6, 2007 4:54 PM:
" If Chief Harper says we need a fire station now who is holding it up? Whether it's the City manager or the Council, if they cannot see the need for a new fire station maybe these other guys are correct and they need to be fired. It is pretty stupid on the behalf of the city administration for Chief Harper to have the need now goes out and finds a good location and lays the groundwork and the City manager or whoever decides we need a police station and the fire dept. gets dumped. Hang in there Chief Harper you are about the only one doing something right in the city government. "
retired wrote on Feb 6, 2007 5:53 PM:
" Chief Harper has the input from an ISO (Insurance Services Office), the group that rates fire departments and sets the base fire insurance rates, that spell out the needs of the City of Terrell to inprove its rating. Now if the council and city mangler could just act. They know what needs to be done "
song remains the same wrote on Feb 6, 2007 7:06 PM:
" It is typical of this city that those that do the legwork get shafted in the end-Chief Harper did what his counterparts could not and is rewarded with the location being taken away for TPS with a promise of a later fire station/training facility. I fully agree that a new police facility is needed-it has been needed since the current city hall location was a few years old. I disagree mightily with the perception that the police dept is fundamentally flawed; the officers on the street work as hard here as in any city (and with limited resources compared to other near metroplex cities). It's a fact that most TPS officers with a few years experience can usually go to a suburban dept with ease (and make more money with far superior resources); if you deal with everything that a police officer has to in Terrell and survive the other depts know these are good officers. Why would they continue to hire officers away from this dept with such regularity if they weren't? This not an indictment of the supervisors either-they are doing the best the can with the resources they are allocated. If there is a problem with the TPS it is the same as with most other depts in the city-hardworking people hamstrung by incompetent or arrogant leadership that is more concerned with how it looks rather than how it is-it has been this way all my time in Terrell and I doubt it will ever change. I salute the police officers, firefighters, and all the other city employees that do the best they can with the cards they are dealt. It is just a cross we bear for living in the "City of Yesterday with No Tomorrow at All". "
crazy wrote on Feb 6, 2007 7:07 PM:
" If Chief Harper dose all the work and spends alot of his time putting this project togther.There should be a fire station there and let TPS have "futuer plans to build" and let "Chief Miller" get up off what he is sitting on and do something other than go out of town. No were dose it talk about the police chief being at this meeting .Terrell Police officers we still love you but get rid of your leader and get back on track "
Boy wrote on Feb 6, 2007 10:28 PM:
" It is nice to see everyone wanting their taxes to go up $200-$300 a year. "
. wrote on Feb 7, 2007 9:10 AM:
" Terrell is attracting lower income people. I can't get an apartment because I don't qualify for section 8. With all the crime and drugs this will bring in, better police and facilities will be needed. "
This comment will be deleted wrote on Feb 7, 2007 9:18 AM:
" Yesterdays paper had a story about the new DA dropping a request made to the State AG about how the tax rate was passed by the County Commissioners. Why is that not online? As an FYI-the DA is the son in law of the County Judge who oversees the Commissioners Court. "
Me wrote on Feb 6, 2007 8:19 AM: