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Largo, Bellelair Bluffs OK fire pact
By TOM GERMOND
| Article published on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009 |
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LARGO – After months of discussion, the cities of Belleair Bluffs and Largo have reached an agreement over fire-suppression services.
Under the agreement, approved by Largo commissioners Dec. 1, Belleair Bluffs will compensate Largo $244,225 annually.
The amount may increase annually based on a cost index no more than 5 percent in any one year or decrease if the city incorporates additional service areas of fire districts. The five-year agreement, which became effective Oct. 1, expires Sept. 1, 2014.
Largo will lease Bluffs’ Fire Station 43 for $30,000 and its fire truck for $10,000 annually. The term of the lease is two years for the building and one year for the truck.
On a related issue, Largo officials will negotiate to acquire property for the relocation of Fire Station 39, which is located off 134th Avenue. City commissioners ranked 2.3 acres of property owned by the parent company of Suncoast Hospital, HCA, as their first choice for the new station.
Moving the station farther to the west will provide “better efficiency in the fire district, especially in light of the city now providing contractual fire-suppression services to Belleair and Belleair Bluffs,” said Largo Assistant City Manager Michael Staffopoulous.
The move is expected to improve the distribution of service calls and response times, allowing to the eventual closure of Fire Station 43.
City officials said HCA has expressed desire to sell the property, located just north of the hospital between Indian Rocks Road and Georgianna Street, to the city. The estimated cost of land acquisition is $282,000 per acre.
Other properties under consideration are the northeast corner of the Southwest Recreation Complex off Vonn Road, ranked second; Serenity Gardens off Wilcox Road, third; the southeast corner of Pinellas County School Board property off Wilcox Road, fourth; and property located west of the Vonn Road reclaimed water tanks, fifth.
Commissioner Mary Black questioned why city officials were not considering using city owned property for the station, the land at the Southwest Recreation Complex.
City officials said the response time from there would not be as good as from the hospital property for serving the extremities of the city as well as those areas that are under contract for fire-suppression service. The city property would also have to go through a land-use change and possibly delay the process several months.
The city’s average response time is 4 minutes and 30 seconds. From the Southwest Complex, it would be over five minutes, said Largo Fire Chief Michael Wallace.
“Again, it is longer as you move away from the center of the fire station. Estimated response time could be as long as six minutes to six and a half minutes to edges of that fire district boundary for Fire Station 39,” he said.
From the city’s property, the station would be on residential streets.
“We are able to cut down a lot of time when we hit main thoroughfares,” Wallace said.
Mayor Pat Gerard said a significant issue for people in the neighborhood is the trucks running with lights and sirens down their streets, whether the station is located on the School Board property, at Southwest Complex or at the Vonn Road site.
“Every time you went out you would be encountering local street traffic,” she said.
The property acquisition would have to be approved by city commissioners. City officials expect to use $600,000 in sales tax funds this year for the purchase.
Belleair Bluffs commissioners authorized Mayor Chris Arbutine to sign the fire-suppression and leases agreements at their Nov. 16 meeting. The cities were facing a Nov. 30 deadline, which was when the interim agreement expired.
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Article published on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009
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