The Rock Township Ambulance District soon will open its new House 2 in unincorporated Fenton, about three months after it opened a new House 1 in Arnold.
The district also has two contracts together totaling $534,700 to sell the old House 1 and House 2, with the Saline Valley Fire Protection District planning to buy House 2, Rock Township Chief Jerry Appleton said.
He said Oct. 1 that Rock Township’s new House 2 will open in the next week or so on a 13.8-acre tract on Konert Road that was purchased for $325,000 in 2019.
“We had our punch list walkthrough on Sept. 30,” Appleton said. “So we are very close.”
He also said the district plans to hold an open house from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, at its new House 1 at Jeffco Boulevard and Hickory Square in Arnold. The building sits on a 2.1-acre site purchased in 2019 for $130,000.
“The building will be open to the public, so people can see exactly what their tax dollars have paid for,” Appleton said. “We’ve been in there since July, but now we got landscaping put in, have some grass growing. We will have a dedication ceremony, and a local Boy Scout troop will do the flag raising. We’ll have some swag and giveaways, and maybe refreshments if we can do it safely under COVID restrictions.”
Together, the construction budget for both new ambulance district houses was just more than $5 million, which was funded with revenue from a $23 million bond issue district voters passed in November 2018, district officials reported.
Sale of old buildings
The original House 1 was built in 1986 at Lonedell Road and Astra Way Drive, across Hwy. 141 from the Arnold Recreation Center complex.
The original House 2 was built in 1991 on Old Hwy. 21 in the Shady Valley area.
Both of those properties recently were sold.
“We knew we were going to put them on the market, and we figured we’d just list them both,” Appleton said. “It happened really quick.”
The Hwy. 141 property was listed at $510,000.
“It was shown I couldn’t even tell you how many times,” Appleton said. “The board received two offers, which they reviewed at the Sept. 22 meeting, and accepted the one from JPR Holdings LLC for $454,700. I think, based on the market and what comps the realtor provided, it was a fair offer and the board did a good job of getting what they could for it.
“We’ve been paying utilities, insurance – and those things add up.”
Closing is tentatively set for Nov. 12.
“It might be sooner, depending on the bank,” Appleton said. “But then, that’s deer season.”
The Shady Valley property was listed at $150,000 but didn’t generate much interest.
“It’s such a specific-use kind of building,” Appleton said. “There was only one showing. We accepted a cash offer from the Saline Valley Fire Protection District for $80,000.”
That is a serendipitous turn of events, since Rock originally acquired the property from Saline Valley in 1987. Closing is set for Oct. 15.
Saline Valley Fire Chief Bob Dunn said the timing was perfect for Rock Township placing its old House 2 on the market.
“We are working on plans to remodel our House 3 (also on Old Hwy. 21 in the Shady Valley area), and we’ll need a place to respond out of while that is going on,” he said. “(The former Rock Township House 2) is basically right next door. You couldn’t ask for a better location, and our response time stays the same.”
Dunn said Saline Valley officials decided the purchase made good economic sense.
“We looked at temporary facilities for over the winter, and we were going to have to spend a lot more (than $80,000),” he said. “This way, we have a building that’s already set up, with a backup generator in place. I don‘t want to say it’s the perfect solution, but it’s probably as close to perfect as you can get.”
Once the fire district’s remodeling project is complete, the newly acquired property may be used for storage, for training or sold outright, Dunn said.
“We haven’t finalized anything,” he said. It’s really wide open. But I don’t think we’ll lose money on it.”
Looking ahead
For Rock Township Ambulance, relocating its two oldest facilities is the first phase in the district’s long-range improvement plan.
According to that plan, the next project would be a remodel or rebuild of House 3, built in 1995 at 1501 Prehistoric Hill Drive in Imperial, Appleton said.
House 4, opened in 2015 at 6707 St. Luke’s Church Road in Barnhart, will remain the district headquarters.
The plan also calls for a new House 5 to be built in the Seckman Valley area.
Appleton said, however, the district plans to take a pause before plunging ahead.
“We developed this long-range plan several years ago,” he said. “So far, being in the new House 1 has met our expectations for response times. But we’d like to have a few months of data with the two new houses open, to see if we’re still on track.
“Before we dedicate more taxpayers’ funds to this, we want to make sure what we’ve done is moving in the right direction before we make more commitments. We’ll evaluate things, and we may have to adjust things as we move forward.”