New Fire Station: What Has Happened and What's to Come

New Fire Station: What Has Happened 
and What's to Come

MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - For years, there has been talk about replacing the Central Fire Station due to the condition of the building. And back in November of 2012, the township finally decided to do something about it by putting a 3.5 million dollar bond proposal on the ballot.However, a special use permit and section 61 review were required in order for the new station to move forward.

The planning commission ended up approving the special use permit request on Sept. 9 of 2013, but it was later appealed by owners of the Autumn Park Condominium Association.

According to their attorney, Lawrence Nolan, the township didn't provide all of the information regarding the exact location of the new fire station in the 2012 proposal. Nolan also said that the township didn't correctly notify residents regarding the planning commission's public hearings, discussion and action.

"We recognized that we made a mistake in our public hearing notice, so we referred it back to the planning commission to rehold the public hearing," said Treasurer Brixie.

Since then, it's been back before the board and was an action item on the Feb. 4 agenda.

Betsy Strobl, treasurer and secretary of the Autumn Park Condominium Association, said, "It's going to cost our condo association money... time... It's a hardship for a lot of these people to come here and it just keeps dragging on."

In the end, Trustee Styka made a motion for Township Manager Frank Walsh and his staff to take another look at the site. According to Trustee Styka, this rework will serve as a compromise for residents. However, others, including Clerk Dreyfus, believe the township is beyond a compromise and it may be better to just slow down the process.

"Every rush that we've done has caused more delays, more legal problems, along the way right now," Clerk Dreyfus said.

The special use permit and section 61 review will come back to the board in 30 days as an action item yet again on the March 4 agenda.

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