HUBBARD TOWNSHIP — Discussion about a potential new building for the community’s joint fire district is expected to go before city council at its next meeting. Several city council members were in attendance for the Eagle Joint Fire District Board’s special meeting at the township administration building on Wednesday, as they exchanged ideas regarding several potential locations for a new fire station.

Officials also wanted to discuss potential hurdles moving forward and where council stands on certain topics, so they could lay out two of their best options.

Hubbard Township Trustee Jason Tedrow recalled a half-acre lot in the middle of the city, but noted it wasn’t large enough to house all of the fire department’s equipment.

“That’s where we run into our biggest problem; we can’t expand beyond that and seek grant money to build on other properties,” Tedrow said. “They’re owned by other entities.”

Tedrow said the fire board received an offer of three to five acres of land near Love’s Travel Stop, which could give the department room to expand, but said Robert Paternity, a part-time city police officer and a former public safety director, was “adamant” the city would be willing to donate property to the fire board.

Councilwoman Bonnie Viele, D-1st Ward, suggested the city’s recycling center property and property going off South Main Street, questioning how much land the department needed.

Fire Chief Ron Stanish said the fire department doesn’t own the building and leases it from the city for $1 a year.

“Personally, I think you should stay in the center of the city, where you are,” Viele said. “It’s the center of the population; you’ve got the schools, you’ve got four senior housing developments.”

Tedrow said the current spot is fine but lacks the property to house their equipment, which is where fire officials ran into a problem. The spot also isn’t in the center of the jurisdiction, he added.

“Where does the city have left for development? Where is the likely development going to come for the entire jurisdiction of the fire department moving into the future?” Tedrow said. “It’s likely going to be down that Route 62 Corridor, because that’s where a lot of the development capability is.”

“There’s land down there, and how often are we going to be able to seek money and potentially get great money for this,” he added.

Stanish explained that the fire department building is approximately 100 years old, and Tedrow said fire trucks had to be specially purchased because of their height.

“We have some current trucks that’ll fit in there that we can kind of split some stuff,” Tedrow said. “It’s going to save us some money in the future by not requiring some of those cut downs with a new building.”

Stanish said it could cost as much as $400,000 to customize a truck to fit into the fire building’s doors, noting that a truck the department purchased for $600,000 six years ago costs approximately $1.4 million now.

Tedrow recalled city residents pushing back on a potential move and Viele saying the department needed to stay in the city, but said the problem they’ve run into is the cost, having to spend a potential $150,000 in tax dollars to purchase the land.

“Then we have to demo it, and then we have to still seek a feasibility study, and then we still have to seek funding, and we’re not guaranteed on it,” Tedrow said. “We can end up dropping $200,000 into something that might not pay out either.”

Viele said the city considered utilizing the recycling property for the police department, which she said the fire board would have.

Tedrow said they don’t have it right now, however, which is why the fire board is looking to hear city council’s limits on collaborating.

Stanish said it ultimately comes down to two locations: the land near Love’s Travel Stop and getting the fire station donated, which they need to discuss with city council.