Champions area fire officials recently secured a piece of property next to the Greenwood Forest clubhouse for a fire station, ending months of speculation about whether the fire department would stay in the northwest Harris County neighborhood.
The Harris County Emergency Services District 29 board — the taxing entity funding the Champions Area Volunteer Fire Department — approved a contract to buy the 3/4 -acre on Champion Forest Drive from the Greenwood Forest Homeowners Association for $90,000.
The fire department has a $3 million budget to build a 26,000-square-foot building to replace the 32-year-old station next door to the land.
Once under construction, the project will take about 15 months to complete.
"We have gone back and forth with the Greenwood Forest board for several months, and there have been several changes and versions of the contract," said Bill Wald, board president of Harris County Emergency Services District 29.
"The purchase of this property marks the first step toward the fire department's new station."
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Fire officials said they need to resolve some issues in the contract and go through a research period before they sign it, but they expect things to wrap up in the next 90 days.
Attorneys for the two boards will negotiate two points in the contract, the association's request to have final approval of the fire station's design, and a restriction forbidding the placement of wrecked, dismantled or inoperable vehicles on the fire station property for more than a 48-hour period.
Corky Norred, Greenwood Forest Homeowners Association president, said he does not foresee any problems in the final negotiations process.
"We know this has been difficult for your board and for our neighborhood," Norred said.
"Your board is doing what is right for the district and the fire department's volunteers.
"The homeowners association is doing the same for the subdivision."
Not all at the meeting backed the fire district board's vote.
Members of a group of Greenwood Forest residents, who have opposed the sale of the association's land to the fire department for various reasons, said they knew the decision was inevitable, but said it was not fair.
"In this situation, bureaucracy overruled," said William Downham, former Greenwood Forest Homeowners Association board member.
"There are not a majority of people who want this station here."
Lori Seeger, also a member of the opposition group, said the group did not have any plans to take action against the sale, but said things could change with time.
Greenwood Forest resident Bill Hogue, who supported the association's sale, said it was time to move forward.
"Personally I would have voted to give the land to the fire department to keep it here," Hogue said.
Champions Area fire chief Hilland Hardy said he was surprised by the neigborhood's opposition.
He also was happy to learn how much support the department has in Greenwood Forest and the entire fire district.
The district's 9-square-mile service area is bordered by Bammel-North Houston Road on the south, Strack Road on the north, the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks on the west and Stuebner-Airline Road on the east.
Hardy said he is glad the decision has been made — he has been waiting almost a year to launch the project — but is holding his emotions in check for now.
"I will wait until dirt flies before I get excited," Hardy said.
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