Corbett picks a site selection committee for new Central Fire Station; might be on city's east side

Mayor Ron Corbett is creating a citizen advisory committee to help the City Council decide where to put the city's new Central Fire Station.

The mayor has selected Barry Boyer, president/CEO of Van Meter Industrial and incoming chairman of the Priority One economic development office, to chair the group.

The others whom Corbett has asked: Nancy Evans, former public safety commissioner; Ann Lipsky, president of Smulekoff's Furniture; Linn County Supervisor Lu Barron; Keith Rippy, executive director of the Area Ambulance Service; and City Council member Don Karr.

Corbett said he will ask the City Council next week to approve the creation of the fire-station committee, and he said he hoped the committee would have a recommendation to the council in 60 days.

Retiring Fire Chief Steve Havlik has said that one possible site for the Central Fire Station is the Emerald Knights block, which had been one of the possible sites for a new library. Greg Eyerly, the city's flood-recovery director, has said that a couple other options for the new fire facility are in the vicinity of the Emerald Knights site.

Havlik has said, too, that placing the new facility on the city's east side near the downtown might allow the Fire Department to close its Coe College-area district station to make way for building a new district station on the city's west side.

Council member Tom Podzimek has said the Emerald Knights spot might be good for a Central Fire Station because it is next to an Interstate 380 ramp. At the same time, council members Pat Shey and Chuck Swore this week said the Emerald Knights site is better suited for property-tax-paying commercial development, not a public building.

The city doesn't plan to return to the flood-damaged former Central Fire Station at 222 Third St. NW.