Construction probably will begin in September on a $4 million fire station off Eastland and Murray drives on Lexington's northeast side.
It will be the first new fire station in nearly a decade. The last time the city opened one was in 2007 on Clearwater Way off Tates Creek Road.
The city has 23 fire stations, according to information on its website.
The new facility will replace Fire Station No. 2 on New Circle Road near Bryan Station Road. When that station opened in 1952, the city's population growth was to the north. Now, the population served by the station has shifted.
"The large population that this fire station serves has moved to the Winchester Road corridor, and response times have gone down," said Eric Chambers, an architect for the new station.
"This fire station will allow the fire department closer proximity to Winchester Road for quicker response times."
The new 14,000-square-foot station will have three bays with additional space for pumpers and other fire department apparatus. The bays' proposed bifold doors will open faster than overhead doors, which should improve response time, Chambers said.
There also will be a hose tower on the property that will allow more in-house training, Chambers told the Urban County Council during a Planning and Public Safety Committee meeting Tuesday. The mostly one-story building will look like a traditional fire station, he said.
"A fire station is very iconic if you look at the history of architecture," Chambers said. "It's also important that we design (the building) to be maintenance-free or as close to maintenance-free as we could."
Council members said they were encouraged that plans were finally moving forward.
"A new fire station is sorely needed," Councilman Bill Farmer said.
Chambers said the plans were within the $4 million budget for the project. He said the expected move-in date was October 2016.
Fire Chief Keith Jackson said the current Fire Station No. 2 on New Circle Road would become a storage facility.
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