Council approves construction, lease for new ambulance facility

Local emergency medical crews will soon have some new digs  in Dowagiac.

The Dowagiac City Council approved Monday the construction of a new $150,000 ambulance hanger, located on Enterprise Drive inside the city’s industrial park. The council also signed off on the terms of a three-year lease agreement with Pride Care Ambulance, the company that will occupy the facility upon its completion.

The approval comes one week following the approval of the site plans by the city’s planning commission. The city has been working with Pride Care for the last several months, though, helping search for a new location for its operations in the city. The ambulance company is currently parking its vehicles at a former bank on Prairie Rounde Street. “This is a pretty interesting and pretty exciting project for us in many ways,” said City Manager Kevin Anderson. “Pride Care needs more space than where they currently are. They need garage space, with four bays, and they need an office and some sleeping quarter space as well.”

While initially looking into existing structures for housing, the city decided to build an entirely new one to fit Pride Care’s needs.

“It seems to make a lot of sense to take a lot at the city’s industrial park,” Anderson said. “It gives us the ability to build something on the corner, to get a space in there. Should their use ever change, it makes for a nice spec building as well.”

Under the terms of the lease, Pride Care will be required to pay a monthly rent fee of $1,350 plus utilities. They will also be responsible for basic maintenance of the building. The terms of the contract run concurrent with that the emergency services provider has with the Cass-Van Buren Emergency Services Authority.

Since the city will retain ownership of the building, other ambulance providers will be able to use the space should their agreement with Pride Care ever dissolve.

“It meets a lot of long-term needs in terms of public safety, in terms of affordability, in terms of getting spec space,” Anderson said. “It will pay for itself; we won’t have dollars into it that we won’t be recouping.”

Councilmember Charles Burling shared Anderson’s enthusiasm for the project, saying that its location on Enterprise will give medic crews quick access to several major roadways in the city.

“It puts a building in that industrial park,” Burling said. “I’m hoping that other people will come along and start to look at that area
for development.”

The last details of the contract are being finalized with the city attorney.

Other action taken by the council Monday includes:

• Appointment of Mayor Don Lyons as representative and Mayor Pro- Tem Leon Laylin as alternate representative for the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission.

• The setting of a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 12, to receive input regarding a request to vacate a public alley between Florence Street and Louise Avenue.

• Passage of a resolution to temporarily close city hall on Dec. 26.

• Payment of bills and payroll, amounting to $415,284.

• The setting of a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 26, to gather public comment on the city’s revisions to its park and open space plan.