EGELSTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WZZM)- If you had asked voters in Egelston Township last November where the fire station they approved would be built, most would have answered right where the current station is. But that was four months ago. And Egelston Township trustees are moving in a different direction now.
Tuesday night on a 4-3 vote trustees voted to use township savings to purchase 1.85 acres at 4970 E. Apple Avenue. The site just east of Carr Road is a former mobile home sales lot. The land will cost the township $125,000 plus closing costs.
Egelston Township Supervisor Mike Thompson says the future site of the fire station was changed because of public safety concerns. Thompson says those concerns center on the department working from a temporary facility for most of this year until the new station opens.
Township voters first rejected a request for a new fire station early in 2010. That request included language placing the station somewhere other than the current station. Then in November a smaller request including a smaller fire station and one that would be built where the current station sits passed.
Egelston Township Treasure Debra Ackerman voted no to move the station west on Apple and no on using township savings to purchase the property.
Ackerman says voters made it clear were they wanted the new station to be built, and that was where the station is now. She fears township residents will loose trust in the board now that the fire station is going to be built in a new location.
If construction moves as planned the station is expected to open in December.
By Jon Mills