Excerpts from wcia.com:
URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — The Urbana City Council has approved $1.5 million for building two new fire stations.
A grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity gave a total of $2 million to the city for community development, affordable housing, violence prevention, and administrative costs. The fire department said the Philo Road and North Lincoln Avenue stations are long overdue for upgrades, but using the money for the stations wasn’t a unanimous decision from the city council.
Some city council members were opposed to giving such a large sum of that money to the department, saying that the spirit of the DCEO grant was intended for economic opportunities in these low-income neighborhoods and not for the government buildings of these neighborhoods.
One new station will be built across the street from the current Philo Road location. The other will be between Goodwin and Bradley Avenues. The Philo Road station has not been remodeled since it was built in the 1970s.
