Charlottetown buys land for new fire station

After a more than a decade-long search, the City of Charlottetown has purchased property for a new fire station in the West Royalty area.

City council approved the purchase of land near the intersectionof Route 2 and Sherwood Road on Monday night for $870,000.

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Long search

The city has been looking for a new location for the city's second fire station since 2006, to replace the fire station in Sherwood. The city was looking for a location farther north, further away from the downtown fire station.

"It's more centralized, and the way the West Royalty and the Winsloe area is growing the last couple of years in case something ever happened there, they can be there quicker," said Coun.Kevin Ramsay, chair of the advanced planning and special projects committee.

Ramsay has been leading the search for a new location since he was elected in 2014. He said it was difficult to find land that met all criteria, at the right price, and in a location that wouldn't negatively impact response times.

"It was a slow process at times, and you sort of often wondered if the thing was going to get off the ground."

'I'm hoping within a year'

Ramsay said he doesn't know yet what the timeline will be for building the new station, but he said he hopes to see construction begin next year.

"It's just a matter of now getting the architects and all that on board for phase two, and go from there. And we hope, I'm hoping within a year. But I could be wrong," said Ramsay.

When the new station opens, the current station on St. Peters Road will close, with the firefighters moving to the new location.

The downtown fire station on Kent Street will remain unchanged.

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