Commission approves purchase of Old Lexington site for Fire Station 5 with conditions after heated debate

Athens-Clarke County commissioners on Oct. 7 approved a purchase agreement for a parcel near Morton and Old Lexington Road to house a replacement Fire Station 5, adopting a commission-defined option that reduced the purchase price and added conditions intended to limit visual, noise and environmental impacts.

The substitute motion, introduced by Commissioner Myers, authorized the mayor to accept a purchase price of $437,000 (a $50,000 reduction from the price earlier reported to the commission) and directed staff to take specific steps in design and mitigation: minimize the facility footprint, use full cut-off and shielded exterior lighting, provide planted buffers and berms, manage on-site fuel and material storage to avoid off-site impacts, and add sidewalk installation requirements along Old Lexington Road. The commission also authorized appropriate staff to execute related documents. The motion passed, 6–3.

Fire Chief Moss and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) local submitted materials to the commission supporting relocation. Chief Moss told commissioners the IAFF risk assessment was a no-cost study that follows NFPA 1710 staffing and response benchmarks and that Fire Station 5 is “outdated, inadequate, and no longer meets the needs of our firefighters or the community.” An IAFF letter read into the record by the chief said the association paid for the risk assessment and emphasized that the report was a risk assessment and not a relocation study.

Neighbors and community members urged the commission to pause and consider alternatives. Jody Weber, a nearby resident, asked the commission to require a master plan and an updated IAFF analysis before finalizing a site. Several speakers expressed worries that a government purchase at a higher price would affect property taxes, and others raised concerns about the site’s topography and the prospect of increased noise and lighting near long-standing rural properties.

Commission discussion focused on balancing fire protection for underserved parts of the…