The move of a Kenner Fire Station, caused by the new terminal at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, is leaving many Kenner residents, and at least one City Councilman, with unanswered questions and other questioning the financial judgement of Mayor Ben Zahn.
The current Fire Station is located on Loyola Drive, just South of I-10. From its location in the median, it has access to both Northbound Loyola and Southbound Loyola and easy access to Veterans Memorial Highway.
With the Loyola road widening project to provide a flyover ramp to the new airport terminal, that Fire Station must be relocated and it will be demolished.
After months, seemingly years, of haggling between the State and City of Kenner over the value of the Loyola Fire Station (which has been in bad shape since Katrina with complaints of mold that were never addressed according to several Kenner Firefighters), the two finally agreed last month and the City will receive $3.46 Million to pay for the land and construction of a new Fire Station. .
After so much delay, you would think that the City and Mayor Zahn would have exhausted all possibilities in finding the perfect location. And, while the City did undertake an appraisal of the property in March 2018, not much investigation into other properties has occurred since then.
Even with the delay, District 1 Councilman Gregory Carroll asked Mayor Zahn to slow the process down until more discussion could be held at the next Council Meeting on January 18th.
In a memo Wednesday afternoon, Councilman Carroll said,
"On behalf of the citizens of District 1 and the City of Kenner, I am respectfully asking that you delay the purchase and any signing of documents pertaining to purchasing the property...that would be used as a replacement for City of Kenner Volunteer Fire Department #38...until after our January 18th Council meeting.
There are a number of new questions and concernt that has been brought to our attention on the purchase of the property that I feel has not been fully answered and that should be addressed, such as:
- The purchase price of the aforementioned property.
- The location and safety concerns of the proposed fire station to the citizens of District 1 and District 5.
- The legality of the final approval of the purchase agreement not being signed by the Kenner City Council for the final approval."
Despite the Councilman's memo, and citizen concerns, Mayor Zahn pushed the sale through and issued his own statement Thursday.
Logically, you would assume that the City would look to move the Fire Station to land that the City already owns, and many have pointed to the vacant lot adjacent to the Kenner Police Department Complex. That land is used for excess parking.
In a statement, the City said this option was investigated but could not be considered due to the ground level traffic in the area until the flyover is built.
But, since no one has questioned KPD response time (which, theoretically would be impacted even more severely than an adjacent Fire Station), I'm not buying that as the reason why the Fire Station wasn't placed next to the KPD Complex.
If ground level traffic congestion is a major factor, what is Mayor Zahn and Chief Glaser's plan to mitigate that issue for KPD? Why haven't we heard about that?
In addition, since the flyover ramp construction is temporary, and the Fire Station should be permanent, any ground traffic issues would also be temporary.
Instead, Mayor Zahn chose a tract of land that is not on a main road as the current Fire Station is (and would be if placed next to the KPD Complex on Vets), but on a side road in a residential area. While the land is zoned Commercial, 3 of the streets surrounding it are narrow, residential streets and the fourth side of the property is the back of Church's Fried Chicken.
A fire truck leaving the proposed Fire Station and headed Northbound on Loyola, would need to cross over Loyola adding critical response time. If that same fire truck was headed Southbound on Loyola to the KPD Complex, Susan Park or the industrial complex West on Vets, the truck will be mired in traffic going towards I-10. Anyone that has tried to exit the Circle K knows what a quagmire that can be.
If traffic was such a vital consideration for NOT putting the new Fire Station adjacent to the KPD Complex, why wasn't traffic also a factor in selecting this off-the-beaten path site? Service and response time to residents and businesses located South of I-10 along Vets will be significantly impacted.
As anyone that has shopped at the Circle K at Loyola and I-10 knows, exiting the Circle K in either direction, is difficult (unless you are going West on I-10. At times, that area is a quagmire.
Initially, Zahn and his Administration said that they were told by PIAL, the Property Insurance Industry of Louisiana - the group that ranks Louisiana Fire Departments and Fire Insurance costs - that the new Fire Station had to be built on the Duke property and that would help Kenner improve it's fire rating from a 2 to a 1, thus lowering the cost of fire insurance premiums for Kenner policyholders.
But, that was not the case.
A spokesperson for the PIAL said they've had no conversations with the City of Kenner regarding the new Fire Station and, even if they had, they cannot tell the City where to locate a Fire Station or that moving a Fire Station would even improve Kenner's fire rating.
Now the Mayor is backtracking (again) and putting the decision on the location of the Fire Station on KFD Chief Ryan Bergeron.
In a text message Zahn said, "Fire Dept. suggested the general location based on safety and response time issues."
But, the safety and response time concerns of many served by the location of the current Fire Station, neighborhood on Veterans as well as the industrial buildings by the Airport and West of Loyola on Vets, clearly weren't a factor.
In addition, since the Volunteer Fire Department was forced to move out yesterday (January 10th), why was there no contingency plans for the station to be temporarily housed in that area to continue to protect the residences and businesses in that section of Kenner?
And, we haven't even begun to discuss the outrageous land cost for this parcel of land.
There were three appraisals for the property: one from the state, the city and the property owner.
The property owner's appraisal is highest at $1,952,160. It was conducted two months AFTER the City's appraisal in May 2018 and includes some unconventional assumptions to attain that high value including that the property would be rezoned and marketed as a potential Hotel/Motel Development. As such, the comparables listed include a hotel on Severn Ave in Metairie and a hotel on Vets.
Since the appraisal was AFTER the City of Kenner's appraisal, the property owner already knew of Kenner's interest thus making the property more valuable in his eyes and increasing the appraisal. .
The City's appraisal, in March 2018, values the property at $910,000.
The State DOTD appraisal comes in at $668,000.
The property is currently assessed at a value of $230,400 for property tax purposes.
The City is paying $1.5 Million for the property.
In his mind, Mayor Zahn believes that Kenner made a great deal because it won't cost the City any money (yet).
In a text message Zahn said, "At the end of the day, the purchase of the land and the construction of the new fire station will cost the City of Kenner absolutely nothing."
But, as with most politicians, Mayor Zahn fails to consider that all funding, whether it is Local, Parish, State or Federal, is OUR money anyway.
So, while it may be true that the land and Fire Station won't cost the City of Kenner (an abstract entity) any money, it will and does cost the people of Kenner plenty.
Mayor Zahn also hasn't disclosed if, spending almost 1/2 of the funding received (regardless of where it came from) on land alone, will result in building a not state-of-the-art Fire Station. That should be the Mayor and City's top priority - building a new Fire Station that will last for decades.
Also, Mayor Zahn claims that the new Fire Station location will be boon to economic development in the City.
I think the only economic development the City will see is if the KFD Firefighters stationed at that location like Church's Chicken, which is adjacent to the proposed Fire Station land.
So, the new Fire Station will be located in a residential area and not on one of Kenner's main roads, on a grossly overpriced piece of land that that the City is paying $1.5 Million and is appraised for property tax purposes at 1/7th and by the DOTD at 1/2 that amount, will hurt KFD's response time to incidents on Veterans Blvd., will not spur economic development (except at Church's Chicken - maybe), will result in almost 1/2 of the City's DOTD funding going towards the land meaning a non state-of-the-art Fire Station, and in general is a bad deal for the City of Kenner.
But, the good news is that no City money will be used on the project (yet).
And, who said I'm not an optimist?
