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Town council signals intent to pursue properties for new fire station after chief outlines coverage, cost and ISO concerns
Summary
Fire Chief Rick Duncan presented maps, ISO rating impacts and cost estimates for potential new fire stations; the council directed legal counsel to prepare a resolution expressing the town's intent to consider purchasing two properties so negotiations can proceed.
Fire Chief Rick Duncan told the Danville Town Council the town's Insurance Services Office (ISO) ratings worsened in some areas after Station 191 was removed from the ISO equation in 2020, raising insurance costs for properties outside the town proper. He urged the council to consider purchasing two privately owned properties near downtown and on the Miles Farm site to restore coverage and improve response times.
Duncan said the town proper now carries an ISO Class 5 rating while many outlying areas moved from Class 5 to Class 9 or 10, and he cited sample figures showing annual insurance payments rising from about $2,052.66 to $2,342 for some property owners — an increase he calculated at $289.93 annually for the example used. He also presented coverage-radius maps and argued that repositioning or adding stations would increase overlap and reduce those ratings in the future.
Council members and staff discussed site tradeoffs, utilities and cost uncertainties. Duncan described a planned station footprint of about 15,976 square feet based on staffing blocks (two medics on a medic truck, four on an engine and four on a ladder) and described design choices such as separate gear/contamination rooms and Jack-and-Jill-style bathrooms. He said the town plans to reopen Station 191 in July with a soft opening for the squad now and a ladder truck later.
Engineers and staff gave early cost ranges for site work. One estimate for utilities and dirt work on the Mackie/Main site was roughly $1,404,000, while a closer-in site estimate was about $700,000; staff said those are preliminary and that they expect some differences once final engineering is done. Fiber relocation was discussed at an order-of-magnitude figure near $60,000 in the transcript. Participants also flagged wetland mitigation and the potential need to buy mitigation credits as an additional and currently unknown cost.
Council members asked about property title and development commitments. Legal counsel, Lisa, reported a recorded commitment requiring the developer to deed approximately 30.6 acres to the town at no cost; she said the recorded commitment contains no explicit condition that the land be used for a minor fire station. Staff said a final plat is pending and will lead to deeding that land to the town in the coming month.
Because two privately owned houses under consideration could be put on the market quickly, council members expressed urgency. The council voted to move forward with a nonbinding action: "to direct legal counsel to prepare a resolution and to note the council's intention to consider purchasing the property," so the council could memorialize intent and continue negotiations. The motion was made by Mister Irving and seconded; the body instructed legal counsel to draft the resolution for the next meeting.
Council discussion included funding concerns: members noted other pending capital requests and studies and asked the clerk/treasurer to provide a breakdown of the host-community fund commitments before final purchase decisions. Staff said appraisals for the two properties already are on hand and that the council cannot pay more than the average of the two appraisals if they proceed under state law guidance described in the meeting.
The council directed staff and legal counsel to prepare the formal resolution for the next public meeting, to continue title and plat verification, and to maintain and secure the properties if purchased while the council works toward a final design and funding plan.
