Council considers fire department training facility

The Bella Vista City Council examined three items of business, including revisions to the planning area, revisions to a lease agreement for another set of trails and a lease agreement for land for a fire department training facility.

Fire Chief Steve Sims said that the 25-year and four-month lease agreement for 10 acres of land near the intersection of Tudor Drive and Chelsea Road would allow the fire department to put together a training area.

“We need to have a training area here in Bella Vista,” he said.

This facility will include a training structure, he said, as well as

space for training with vehicles.

Currently, he said, firefighters have to travel to Lincoln to perform tower training and annual driver training is performed on whatever parking lot the department can get access to — and on occasion this has resulted in the department paying for damage caused by their large trucks.

An added benefit, he said, is that the police department’s tactical unit can use the structure for training as well.

An additional cost will be insurance. A quote attached to the meeting packet from Mount Vernon Fire Insurance came in at $988 after fees and taxes.

The extra four months on the lease will allow the department to start prepping the area this year, he said.

Council member Frank Anderson said that preparation could create an opportunity for firefighters to expand their skill sets.

“We’ll get bulldozer training too,” he said.

The council also discussed amendments to a lease agreement with the POA for a second set of soft surface trails, currently estimated to total 50 miles — in the central portion of the city — on the west side of U.S. Highway 71.

Christie explained that the trail agreement has been revised to make things more clear.

“Rather than take these multipage things, let’s just express and say what’s changing,” he said.

It’s also worth noting, he said, that the city has been told it can expect to see a grant for those trails in the next two weeks.

Community Development Services supervisor Kevin Gambrill explained that the planning area revisions are strictly to the verbiage and not the maps. The maps will stay the same, he said, but the descriptions are being amended.

“What you have before you is a revised description of the planning areas,” he said. “This is to avoid donut holes, if you will.”