LARGO \u2014 The City Commission on Feb. 3 unanimously approved two purchase and sales agreements for six parcels on South Belcher Road that will serve as the future home of Largo Fire Rescue Station 42.<\/p>\n
Under the agreements, the city will pay Clear Panel LLC $3.3 million, plus $37,000 in closing costs, for five parcels on the southeast corner of Belcher and East Bay Drive, and $470,000 plus closing costs for the lot at 1392 S. Belcher Road, clearing the way for construction of a new four-bay fire rescue facility on the 2.5-acre site.<\/p>\n
The combined acreage, along with the land’s floodplain and evacuation zone status and its proximity to a major intersection, made it a prime spot to relocate Station 42, which was built in 1978 and has just two drive-through bays, according to Largo Fire Rescue Chief Matt Carpenter.<\/p>\n
“It’s our oldest station right now, and it’s more than outlived its usefulness,” Carpenter told the commission, noting the building was designed to accommodate three or four firefighters yet now houses eight full-time members.<\/p>\n
“We’ve outgrown it tremendously,” he said. “It’s time to move into a new spot.”<\/p>\n
Engineering Services Director Jarald Woloszynski said the city chose the site based on several factors, particularly the proximity of the East Bay Drive\/Belcher Road intersection.<\/p>\n
“A big criterion is we have access to a signalized intersection,” he said, adding that while the idea “doesn’t seem like a big deal” to most people, it matters because of stringent FDOT standards and regulations.<\/p>\n
Woloszynski said the county agreed to install an emergency signal south of the eastbound and westbound West Bay Drive turn lanes. Carpenter noted the county is implementing a new traffic preemption system that would automatically trigger signal lights at the busy intersection.<\/p>\n
“There’s a new traffic preemption system being installed that will effectively preempt that signal at Bay and Belcher when they get a call,” Carpenter said in response to a question from Commissioner Mike DiBrizzi, adding that it would make navigating the intersection much easier for first responders.<\/p>\n
“It’s designed to clear out that intersection before they pull out of the station.”<\/p>\n
Woloszynski outlined the project timeline: a design and development phase in fiscal year 2026-27, followed by an 18-month construction phase in 2028-29. He noted the county would reimburse the city for portions of the land purchase, design and construction costs.<\/p>\n
A chart presented to commissioners showed a total land acquisition and closing cost of $3,812,765, minus the county’s 14% reimbursement of $559,333, for a net cost of $3,253,432, or about $1,285,942 per acre.<\/p>\n
“The Pinellas County portion of it helps us out substantially,” Woloszynski said.<\/p>\n
He said that after closing, the city would enter a lease agreement with Clear Panel running through the end of fiscal year 2027, allowing the company to continue operating from the site and serve as caretaker during the station’s planning and design phases.<\/p>\n
“They do a spectacular job of keeping their property in compliance with community standards,” Woloszynski said, adding that it made little sense for the city to maintain the land for two years “when Clear Panel is willing to do this lease. And it also shows it’s an occupied property and hopefully reduces vandalism and homelessness during the two-year design and development review.”<\/p>\n
The items drew no public comment. Commissioner Curtis Holmes questioned why any design costs are necessary given that the city unveiled a new fire station last year.<\/p>\n
“Couldn’t you just copy them?” he asked of Station 39’s plans, half-jokingly. Woloszynski said that while they plan to recycle portions of the floor plan, “we’re going to grow it. And that’s where the cost is.”<\/p>\n
The new Station 42 would accommodate 15 people and have four drive-through bays. Station 39, at 12398 134th Ave., has three bays, though the two buildings will look similar from the outside.<\/p>\n
“The visuals of the fire stations look similar,” Woloszynski said of an artist’s rendering showing a modern design incorporating glass and brick. “And that’s intentional.”<\/p>\n
When Commissioner Donna Houck asked why the city doesn’t build two-story stations, Woloszynski and Carpenter said they don’t rule them out but noted they are typically more expensive.<\/p>\n
“I have no aversion to it,” Carpenter said. “But they can be cost prohibitive.”<\/p>\n
Before the vote, Mayor Woody Brown noted the new Station 42 “would be the first fire station actually built within the city limits in a long time,” as Station 39 is in an unincorporated section of the county.<\/p>\n
The commission voted 6-0 to approve both agreements, totaling $3,812,765 for the six parcels. Commissioner Michael Smith was absent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LARGO \u2014 The City Commission on Feb. 3 unanimously approved two purchase and sales agreements for six parcels…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[81393,81394,4085,24310,596,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-171092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-belcher-road","9":"tag-clear-panel-llc","10":"tag-largo","11":"tag-largo-fire-rescue","12":"tag-pinellas-county","13":"tag-st-pete","14":"tag-st-pete-headlines","15":"tag-st-pete-news","16":"tag-st-petersburg","17":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","18":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}