The $1.7-million contract is awarded and work on the project is scheduled for July 29.
By JENNIFER FARRELL
Published July 19, 2003
CLEARWATER - For years the city has promised a new fire station in the northwest section of the city, where a gap in coverage has long translated into slower response times.
Now Clearwater is about to deliver, with a new four-bay station equipped with its own advanced life support engine and fire and paramedic staff.
"It's overdue," Commissioner Hoyt Hamilton said Thursday, "and sorely needed."
Set to open next spring, the modern facility will be the first in the area and is expected to drastically shrink response times.
On Thursday, commissioners awarded a $1.7-million contract to David Geral Construction Co. in Tampa. Crews will break ground on the property July 29.
The project is running more than two years behind schedule, largely because it took the city far longer than expected to find the right property.
The station is scheduled to open in April 2004 on 1.5 acres of a 4.2-acre parcel at Overbrook Avenue and Betty Lane.
North Greenwood Association president Jonathan Wade, who has pushed for the new station, welcomed news of construction on Thursday.
"I think it'll be great as far as safety and response times," he said. "That will be a relief having it close by."
