Rutherford County committee backs site work, design work for new Weekley Lane EMS station and related parking and forensic site work

The Rutherford County Public Safety Committee on Jan. 27 voted to forward a package of site work and design requests — including a proposed EMS station on Weekley Lane and site work for the county clerk’s satellite parking and a forensic center — to property management and the county budget office with a positive recommendation.

The proposal, presented by the mayor and county staff, would place a new EMS station on a roughly 17-acre county parcel near Weekley Lane and G Street and build a station modeled on the county’s Rutherford Boulevard EMS facility with modifications to add crew space and a deeper apparatus bay. The committee approved forwarding site engineering and architect services and asked staff to return with final construction costs.

Why it matters: County leaders said the north end of Rutherford County has been under strain as population has grown; the proposal is intended to reduce out-of-area ambulance responses and shorten response times in Smyrna, La Vergne and other northern communities.

County leaders and staff described the planned project and immediate next steps. Mayor (unnamed) told the committee the county is now the state’s fourth-largest county and growing rapidly, and presented a funding path: “we have approximately, $4,400,000 left over of Del Webb money that is currently unused that we would want to transfer to this particular part of the project,” he said, explaining that the county expects total site work and EMS construction costs to fall between $3,800,000 and $4,200,000. The mayor added, “we will not borrow the money, and we will not raise property taxes to accomplish these goals.”

Brian (staff member) described operational need and how the proposed location would improve coverage. He said county GIS and a “heat map” from Commander John Engel show concentrated call activity in the north end and warned that apparent coverage gaps appear when units are tied up on calls: “the 5 mile radius looks great until one of those trucks goes on a call,” he said. Staff said the proposed floor plan is an adaptation of the Rutherford Boulevard station with added rooms, expanded apparatus bay to accommodate newer chassis, storage and laundry facilities, and planning room to allow a second crew in the future.

Staff asked the committee to authorize site work and architect services for three related projects at Weekley Lane — the EMS station, additional parking for County Clerk Lisa Kroll’s satellite office, and the forensic center site package — arguing a combined site package would save money on mobilization and engineering. Adam Dodd and other county staff prepared the schematic plan; staff emphasized a final architect’s set and firm construction estimate would return to the committee after site engineering is completed.

Committee members asked about bathroom and shower capacity, bays and whether the building should be sized from the outset to hold two ambulances. Commissioner James said putting two ambulances in the facility from the start should be considered because of recurring out-of-area responses; staff replied the schematic can be revised and the architect can cost out a second shower or two-bay configuration during the design phase.

The committee voted to forward the package with a positive recommendation to property management and the county budget office. The motion as recorded asked that the committee “accept this proposal for site work for forensic, EMS, county clerk, and construction for EMS, and forward that to property management and budget with a positive recommendation.” The motion received a second and passed by voice and roll call; commissioners recorded voting yes in sequence (as read at roll call): Commissioner McMurray; Commissioner Sherino; Commissioner James; Commissioner Rather; Commissioner Beverley; Commissioner Oliver; Chairman Reid.

Next steps: staff will complete site geotechnical and survey work, solicit an architect to produce construction drawings, return to the committee with final not-to-exceed construction costs (planned to go to the full commission for final funding approval), and coordinate use of the Del Webb funds identified by staff. The mayor and staff said they intend to present construction funding requests to the full commission in the upcoming cycle and will not seek property tax increases or borrowing for this phase.

Sources and limitations: Cost ranges, acreage and the site location were discussed in the meeting presentation; staff emphasized the $3.8–$4.2 million figure is an estimate pending site engineering, and the $4.4 million Del Webb figure was presented by county staff (Michael Smith). Exact final square footage and final construction cost will be determined during architect design and site work and were not finalized at the committee meeting.