New station answers alarm in Lakewood Ranch

After East Manatee Fire Rescue District began using a new software program to better track incidents and gather statistics on service calls at the beginning of the year, a trend began to emerge.

Response times to certain sections of Country Club at Lakewood Ranch, Country Club East and The Lake Club were taking up to nine minutes — about double the ideal response time.

Although East Manatee had planned to build its next station on State Road 70 near Panther Ridge in the coming fiscal year, it developed a new plan — one that instead opens a new station off University Parkway within 15 months.

“Prior to Oct. 1, this wasn’t even a blip on our radar,” East Manatee Fire Rescue Chief Lee Whitehurst said of having a station in that area.

The district closed on an 11-acre parcel Nov. 14 on Covenant Way, just southeast of the headquarters for Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch and northeast of the new Lorraine Corners shopping plaza.

East Manatee is paying SMR  $200,000 for the site, of which about 3 acres is suitable for buildings. Whitehurst said the remainder of the property is wetlands.

Total construction costs are projected at $2.23 million and will be funded with impact fees this fiscal year.

“It’s a good spot for us,” said Fire Commissioner Don O’Leary, a retired New York City firefighter. “The ideal response is three to four minutes, which it is at all the other locations. That’s the way it should be.”

Whitehurst said in the original section of Lakewood Ranch, which includes Greenbrook, Country Club at Lakewood Ranch and the Summerfield and Riverwalk communities, there are few major connector roadways — just Lorraine Road and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard running north-south, and Hidden River Trail running east-west. In that general area, there are a lot of gates, curvy roads, stop signs and low speeds — all of which contribute to slower response times.

Hidden River Trail is too curvy for firetrucks to use, Whitehurst said.

Whitehurst said the district identified the response time issue about six months ago. In August, after identifying a site on State Road 70, East Manatee Fire Rescue District commissioners adopted their new five-year plan, which included a new station.

Funding for the project now is included in the 2018-2019 fiscal year budget, which began Oct. 1.

East Manatee Fire Rescue had planned to build Station 8, fronting State Road 70, just west of Panther Ridge and east of the future Bourneside Boulevard, this fiscal year.

However, it is waiting for Lakewood National Golf and Country Club’s developer, Lennar, to build Bourneside Boulevard and install water and sewer connections. Bourneside is the road by which the station will access State Road 70 to the south and neighborhoods to the north. The roadway segment is about one year from completion.

“We’re moving our focus from Station 8 to what will be Station 7 on Covenant Way,” he said.

Whitehurst said the district has another $2.6 million in impact fee reserves it will use to build Station 8, after Station 7 is completed.