HARLINGEN — Fire Station No. 9 on Stuart Place Road is beginning to actually look like one.
The city’s ninth fire department location will be 7,000 square feet, and is about 65 to 70 percent complete. It should be ready for staffing in January, city officials said yesterday.
“We’ve had a couple of rain days that have been afforded the contractor,” said Carlos Sanchez, assistant city manager. “Initially it was a December completion date, but because of that rain, it’s rolling over into January.”
The $1.5 million firehouse located on 6.09 acres has been on the board for years for the city’s fast-growing west side, and was accelerated following the annexation of property into the city out to Bass Boulevard.
The closest fire station to the area is the Dixieland Road station at Valle Vista Mall, and it takes six to eight minutes for fire trucks from that station to reach the city’s west side.
The new station will have bays for two fire trucks and will serve an area with a radius of about 1.5 miles in all directions.
“A lot of the stucco, and a lot of the brick work has been done,” Sanchez added. “Basically, the contractor’s trying to move inside now and finish that out.
“I would say it’s anywhere from around 65 to 70 percent complete,” he added. “That being said, we hope to get it sooner rather than later.”
In 2003, voters approved a bond issue to build the fire station on land purchased for about $240,000.
Fire coverage is an important consideration for the rapidly expanding western edge of the city. Not only are new housing developments under way there, construction also has begun on Stuart Place Crossing just to the north.
Stuart Place Crossing will house the new Cheddar’s restaurant, along with several other new retail businesses.
Texas Regional Bank also plans a new headquarters building nearby, and real estate agents and city planners have predicted a rapid expansion of commercial development from Harlingen to La Feria along the interstate.
