Its first efforts were rebuked by some member municipalities, but Harmony Fire District has a new plan for a brand-new main fire station.

More than a year after the fire company's pitch to Jackson and Lancaster townships, and Harmony and Zelienople — the four municipalities it primarily serves — the Harmony fire department has presented the municipalities with its plans for a new station on more than an acre in Zelienople.

Kevin Behun, fire district president, said the new location for Harmony Fire District at 424 S. Main St. provides the district with a number of benefits.

Along with the former Jack Hockenberger Motors property, Behun said, the fire district will acquire the house immediately to the south and some land behind the old automotive service site.

“We discussed six to 10 other locations, some of which we looked at very seriously, but ultimately we used data to decide on here,” he said. “It saves time responding to our highest density populated areas. It's a more centralized location for 30 of our members compared to the other places we were looking.”

Not only that, he added, there are some benefits the Route 19 location provides for Harmony Fire District that weren't present at its other proposed location on Route 19 in Jackson.

“The benefit of here is you are in Zelienople, which means you have the grid system of old town-style streets, which means you have the side streets in case traffic is an issue,” Behun said. “At the reservoir property, you had two options: Route 19 south and 19 north.”

$6 million project

Much like the district's previous proposal, the development of the South Main property will cost in the millions of dollars. But with a total project cost of $6 million, Harmony Fire District's Zelienople proposed location comes in less expensive than the Jackson Township spot.

The department does not have cash on hand to complete the project, however, and will need to take out a roughly $4 million loan to construct its new station.

Behun said the department was able to secure that financing by having its member municipalities sign an agreement to financially support the department's project either by increasing the fire millage or by using money from the general fund.

Chris Rearick, Jackson Township manager, said the township likely will not increase its fire tax — the issue which stopped the district from its prior proposal — but intends to allocate funds to the department from its regular budget. “Sufficient monies will be appropriated for their debt service,” he said.

“We did run this budget based on it (the fire tax) being 3 mills,” Behun said. “They understand I couldn't care less if their paperwork said they're giving us 1.5 or 2 mills and then, from the general fund, allocating us the rest.”

In addition, the district has quelled some of the municipalities' concerns, particularly by having an administrator with deep knowledge of building larger projects and by finding help when they couldn't know an answer, Behun said.

“I would say the biggest asset we have for the building is (district vice president) Nate (Mallory), who is a project manager” with Pittsburgh-based PJ Dick, Behun said. “He's done large-scale projects in the past.”

Location, location

Behun said he's of the belief that the new location will be beneficial for the department. It's central, close to members and navigable during traffic.

Not only that, Behun said, he believes with the general shortage of volunteers, a more visible station will be more accessible to those wishing to help.

Not everyone's fully convinced, however, by the location. Jay Grinnell, president of the Jackson Township board of supervisors, said he's concerned about traffic and the distance to Interstate 79 from the Zelienople location.

“I expressed to them that I, personally, do not feel it's a good choice,” Grinnell said. “I'm not going to block funding it — in fact, I signed a paper saying we'll support it — but I feel it's a poor choice for location. Main Street in Zelienople can be difficult to navigate, especially on a Thursday night or in the middle of the afternoon.”

But those concerns — the open-air markets on Thursday nights and the heavy Route 19 traffic — can be beneficial, Behun said.

“We feel that having that visibility and having hundreds, if not thousands, of cars driving past it every day, having a sidewalk to the property ... is going to bring more people in,” he said.

With the funding more or less secured, an agreement signed with the property owner and plans for a brand-new fire station to replace its current pole building, however, Harmony Fire District hopes the new location will be a better fit.

Currently, the department plans to break ground in the first quarter of 2022 with 12 to 18 months for the building to be constructed.

“We're hoping that this time in 2023 we're having a move-in party,” Behun said.