March 8, 1989

Fire station planned for White River

       White River Township firefighters hope to calm the fears of property owners who are concerned about the site they have chosen for a new fire station.  The White River Township fire department plans to buy a 33.3 acre farm on Fairview Road to establish a fire station to serve the northern part of the township.  But neighbors are questioning the wisdom of buying the farm, which is just west of the Indiana Railroad tracks.  Neighbors will have at least two opportunities to discuss the issue with fire officials.  An informal meeting is scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday in North Grove Elementary School, and a formal hearing is set for March 14 on a zoning change that would be required to complete the project.

         Fire Chief  Howard Bennis is confident that once neighbors see the plans, they will be comfortable with the way the project will look.  But some neighbors are less concerned with appearance than they are with the amount of money the fire department is spending on the station.  “We don’t really want to change the face of the neighborhood at all,” Bennis said.  He said the existing farm buildings will remain in place if the plans go through, except for a one car garage that will be razed.  The barn will be expanded and modified to become the fire station, and the farmhouse will serve as living quarters for firefighters.  Then two firefighters could be housed at the new station, and two at the current one, to comply with plans that were made in 1986 when the White River Township Fire Protection District was established.

         None of the new construction will look out of place at the farm site, Bennis said.  “We’re not going to put up some ugly concrete building.  Nobody wants that next door to them, and we don’t want that, either.”  Most of the land, including a field and a wooded area, lies in a flood plain where construction is not allowed.  So, Bennis said, residents have no reason to fear that the rest of the land will be developed.  “Apparently there was some kind of a rumor going around that this was going to be another shopping center,” Bennis said.  But he said neighbors can rest assured that the fire department is not in the business of developing shopping centers.

         Inta Celmins, a neighbor and real estate broker, said she has some reservations about living near a fire station.  But her major concern is that the fire department would buy 33 acres of land, when only a few acres would be needed for the new station.  Officials of the fire department signed a purchase agreement in February to buy the property for $240,000.  That purchase agreement is contingent on the fire department securing the needed zoning change and arranging financing.
 
 

---