Steve Lord
Beacon-News (Aurora, Ill.)
(TNS)
The Aurora City Council recently approved annexation and a final plan for a 2.5-acre site at Bilter Road and Nan Street for the new Fire Station 13.
Aldermen also approved a conditional use for the property just east of Farnsworth Avenue on land the city has owned since 2015.
Aurora Fire Department officials have said the new station will cut response time in the area in half. That area includes Chicago Premium Outlets mall and all the development along Farnsworth Avenue and Bilter Road. It also includes all the residential in that area and all the homes that could be built there in the future.
Right now, that area is served by either a fire station near Fox Valley Mall, or downtown.
A study done several years ago pinpointed the best locations for fire stations in Aurora. According to fire officials, the goal in moving and constructing new stations is to get response times below six minutes for regular fire responses and four minutes for emergency medical responses.
While the city has had a fire station in mind for the Bilter Road and Nan Street location since 2015, residents along Nan Street said they were concerned about what the station there might bring.
They worried the activity there would be too much for the residences along Nan Street, which are in unincorporated Aurora Township.
But city officials said the 2.5-acre Bilter and Nan site would be perfect for the about 19,000-square-foot station. When leaving for an emergency, all the fire vehicles would exit onto Bilter Road. They would only use Nan Street when returning to the station, officials said.
The station would be 80 feet from Nan, with a lot of landscaping, including a six-foot-high solid wood fence there.
Officials have said that a number of city fire stations are located in residential neighborhoods, and there have been no problems.
Last month, the City Council also approved a new station site along Eola Road of 17,600 square feet. Fire Station 9 be on land at 7S300 Eola Road, just south of Liberty Street.
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