City of Columbia eyes newly annexed land for location of new fire station

Newly annexed land south of Columbia in the fifth ward could be the prime spot for a new fire station.

City council members voted Monday night to annex the land south of Beulah Ralph Elementary School near Route KK and Scott Boulevard.

Fire Chief Randy White told council members that he’s had preliminary conversations with the landowner about using part of the 10 acres for a fire station. The area is currently in dire need of a Columbia station, since the closest one is on Chapel Hill Road. White said the land also has ideal road connectivity, which is the most important thing for a fire station.

“Sitting at the intersection of Route KK and Scott Blvd gives us north, south, east and west directions almost immediately after we leave the station,” he said.

Fire station 6 on Chapel Hill Road is also more than four minutes from that area.

“Some of those response times are outside the four minute mark,” said Ward 5 Councilman Matt Pitzer. “Anything that we can do to move forward on that front would be a great benefit to those residents.”

Pitzer said the applicant has also indicated the land could be developed into some sort of business park.

“There’s been a lot of residential development,” he said. “So some sort of mixed used development that can be walkable and bikeable, and provide some sort of low intensity use for that neighborhood would be useful.”

If the landowner wants to sell part of the area to the city for a new fire station, it could buy it with a couple million dollars it has earmarked from the capital improvement sales tax ballot.