Lake Carmel Firehouse Issue

It seems that 2004 will be the year that the issue of the Lake Carmel Firehouse explodes into the public eye. The new Kent Town Board is going to be put on the "Hot Seat". The residents of the Lake Carmel Park District are now waiting to see how Supervisor Tulipane will handle the issue of how the old firehouse will be used.

The Lake Carmel Advisory Committee has already presented a letter and a Town Board resolution is in place that states that any use of the old firehouse, which sits on PARK DISTRICT property, and was only leased as use for a fire department, should be a passive one so as not to impact our Lake. It also should be up to the residents of the Park District to decide how we wish to use it.

Our maintenance department has been housed in sub-standard quarters for as long as I have lived here, over 20 years. It has no bathroom facilities. The workers must use a porta-john. The maintenance office, which is behind the Villa Carmel, is an eyesore for the residents that live near it. Removal of the maintenance department, from our lakeshore to a better site, such as the old firehouse, is recommended by the Advisory Committee.

The firehouse building, according to public record, was erected so as to serve the community of Lake Carmel. The Town Board, in 1946, saw it as an "asset to the Park District" if ever the fire department were to move out in the future. There is no separate deed. The land and the premises revert back to the Park District.The Town of Kent only " holds " the building for the "Benefit of the Park District".

NO town departments should be put into that building. A new Town Centre is currently being built so as to house ALL departments in the Town of Kent. As a town with many lake communities, I feel that we all should be concerned if a Town Board feels they have the right to tell the residents what they should do in their communities.

Liz Allison
LCPD Advisory Committee member