Strongsville obtains property for proposed fire station

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — The city may again ask voters in November to allow construction of a fifth fire station, on Ohio 82 just west of Pearl Road.

But unlike two years ago when voters rejected a similar proposal, the city will obtain the property targeted for the fire station — regardless of how residents vote in November.

The 1.3-acre property — off the south side of Ohio 82 immediately west of Huntington Bank and the parking lot of Ganley Buick GMC — has been owned by the Strongsville Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber will give that land to the city in exchange for a municipally owned half-acre lot, on which the chamber office now stands. The chamber building is off the south side of Ohio 82 just east of Pearl, next to Old Town Hall.

On Monday night (June 5), City Council approved a land swap agreement between the city and the chamber.

Also on Monday, council referred to the Strongsville Planning Commission a proposed ballot issue that would ask voters in November to rezone the 1.3 acres from a residential district — which permits only homes — to a public facilities district, which would allow a fire station.

“We’re going forward with the property exchange whether voters rezone (the 1.3-acre) parcel or not,” Law Director Neal Jamison said Tuesday.

“Even if the rezoning fails, the city still feels that this piece of property is more valuable to us than the property the chamber office is on,” Jameson said. “There’s more potential use for it than the land we’re giving the chamber.”

Two years ago, Jamison said ownership of the 1.3 acres would give the city flexibility to reshape the downtown area, centered around the Ohio 82-Pearl Road intersection.

Jamison said the city, although preferring a fire station there, might use the land as a new site for its growing Southwest Emergency Dispatch Center, for recreational purposes or even as a parking lot for center-of-town events.

Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce has expressed a desire to own the parcel on which its office now stands, Jamison said. The chamber has leased that site from the city since at least 2004.

The city still hopes voters will rezone the 1.3 acres to allow a fifth fire station there. The city now has four fire stations.

“Each year, we keep getting more and more calls for service to the fire department,” Jamison said.

Council will host a public hearing on the rezoning in late July, Jamison said. A date had not been set as of Tuesday.

In November 2021, Strongsville voters defeated the rezoning of the 1.3 acres, which consists of three parcels about the same size. The issue failed both citywide and in Ward 4, where the land is located.

The 1.3 acres now contain a home and a second building in back.

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