Leaders in North Augusta have started reviewing how the city is growing, where and the impact it will have on police and fire protection.
Public Safety Chief John Thomas brought updated information and recommendations to council members during the May 9 study session.
The U.S. Census numbers tell the story. In the 2000 census, North Augusta had 17,574 residents. In 2010 that jumped to 21,348, a 21.5% increase. The population climbed again in the 2020 census, a 14.2% increase to 24,379.
During his presentation, Thomas focused on the city’s fire services and its current standings with the Insurance Services Offices, Inc. ISO ranks fire departments on their effectiveness, equipment, training and staffing, 10 being the lowest ranking, one is the highest. The higher the ranking for a department can reduce your home insurance premiums. North Augusta current has a 2 ranking.
Thomas used maps with color-coded streets to show existing stations and coverage areas. Red streets are optimal, within a mile and a half of one of the city’s three fire stations. Blue is acceptable at two and a half miles. Green streets are areas that are five miles away from the existing stations on East Buena Vista Avenue, which will be replaced by the new Station 1 on Martintown Road, Station 2 on West Five Notch Road and Station 3 on Belvedere-Clearwater Road.
“The first thing that stood out to us was obviously the Martintown Road and I-20 area, Knobcone,” he said. “You notice how a lot of the blues are stopping you have all greens out there. So that would be our first area that we would think that our next station would need to go just with the growth of the city and with the coverage that we have there.”
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A second area garnering attention is Highway 25/Edgefield Road at Ascauga Lake Road. Although growth there has been slower, that could change if the proposed Highland Springs development, for a tract bounded by Old Sudlow Lake Road, Belvedere-Clearwater Road, Ascauga Lake Road and S.C. Interstate-520, gets underway.
Although still in the early stages, it would be the largest single project North Augusta has seen with approximately 1,250 acres; more than 2,800 housing units including apartments, townhouses and single-family homes; about 3.2 million square feet of industrial area, a village square covering about 555,000 square feet and that same amount of space allocated for commercial development.
“It would be a point where you could say ‘Hey, this area seems to be going faster than the Martintown Road, maybe we need to change and move toward the 25 and Ascauga Lake Road area,’” Thomas said, adding, “Along with that we also have the lower end of the city to River North area and Highway One area that we have green out there also.”
Highland Springs developer Auro Divine Development, LLC of Greenville, S.C presented a sketch plan review, the first step in the process, to the members of the Planning Commission on March 16.
Although the development has not started, knowing it is likely to get underway prompted the Aiken County School District to move forward with building Highland Springs Elementary and Middle Schools, which were included in the $90 million dollar bond referendum voters approved in 2018.
In addition to choosing the best location, Thomas said the city would also need to decide whether a new station would be two bays or three bays.
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“My current inclination is it would make sense for us to use a three-bay fire station if for nothing else, the fact that we use public safety and both the dual police and fire roll and there are other aspects to having basically a police station or a substation in your neighborhood that provides some value to the homeowners into the developments,” he said.
Going with the three-bay format could also be cost effective. The city could use plans drawn for Station 3 on Belvedere-Clearwater Road, eliminating the need to pay for new design plans.
Thomas said more considerations would be how to staff and equip a new station.
“As we operate today with each additional new station that we build, it will require a Station Sergeant and three additional firefighters with the construction of the station, the apparatus distribution would need to be looked at or even new apparatus acquired for the station,” he said.
Thomas said, at this point, the recommendations are simply for the mayor and council members to keep in mind as the city grows.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
