A group of Lillian residents went to court in June 2014 to block the local volunteer fire department from building a new station on their residential street, arguing that the project would disturb the neighborhood and lower property values.
Gene Howe and four neighbors — two on Ickler Avenue and two on Santa Piedro Street — opposed the Lillian Volunteer Fire Department’s plan to build a three-bay station on 1.4 acres at the corner of Santa Piedro and Ickler.
Why the department wants to move
The department already operated a station at 34180 Widell Ave., about three-tenths of a mile from the disputed corner, but fire officials said the two-bay Widell Avenue building was no longer large enough for its needs.
Howe stressed that his objection was not with the firefighters themselves. "I don’t have any animosity toward them," said Howe, who had lived on Ickler Avenue for four years. "I appreciate what they do. I just don’t think they have given us the consideration that they should when deciding where to locate."
The lawsuit
The five neighbors filed suit in Baldwin County Circuit Court against the Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Commission, which had approved a conditional use request for the station on June 5 over the neighbors’ objections. The property is zoned for residential use.
The lawsuit alleged the county had not done everything it should have before approving the request. The residents asked a judge to stay the decision until the county could determine whether the station would unduly decrease neighboring property values and whether it would be compatible with the surrounding area.
David Conner, the county’s attorney, defended the process. "I think the Planning Commission was well within its power and authority to make the decision that it made based on the evidence that was presented," he said.
The property-value question
Before the June 5 meeting, the county’s chief appraiser, Walt Lindsay, had been asked whether a nearby fire station would hurt home values. Lindsay wrote that he would expect a small but measurable loss for residential properties, though he added that because the station would move only a few hundred feet and significant commercial development already existed nearby, he did not think there would be much effect.
Neighbor Wayne Miller, one of the plaintiffs, took a starker view, writing to the county that the station could "cut the value of my property at least in half."
The department moves forward
Jerome Langford, president of the fire department’s board of directors, said he had committed to leaving some woods on the property intact as a buffer to ease concerns, though it was not required. He said he had been unaware a lawsuit had been filed and that the department was proceeding with its plans, having completed the $59,900 purchase of the land on June 13. "There are lots of steps we’ve got to go through," Langford said.