FOLEY — The city of Foley could add a new fire station in the southeast part of town in the not-too-distant future.

During Monday’s regular Foley City Council work session, Foley Fire Chief Joey Darby announced that a proposal has been made to donate land for a fire station that would serve the Glenlakes area.

According to the chief, he was approached about the potential donation in early May.

“David and Sue Vosloh called me about a month ago,” Darby said in an interview after Monday’s council proceedings.

He explained that the couple discussed donating a parcel of land at the intersection of County Road 20 and Fairway Drive that has a commercial zoning.

“His (David Vosloh’s) conditions would be that s fire station would be built there and that it would be manned,” Darby said.

According to the fire chief, Foley currently has three fire stations — the fully-staffed downtown location and two volunteer houses.

“What we consider to be Station Three is a fire truck on County Road 12 and Fairview,” Darby said.

He explained that this proposed addition would replace that site, complete with full-time fire fighters.

“Operationally, it would take nine to staff — three per shift,” Darby said.

To fund that additional staff salary would cost the city $600,000 per year, he added.

But doing so, Darby said, would prove beneficial. The most obvious is the fire station’s service of the more than 500-home community of Glenlakes.

“It’s our largest subdivision,” he said.

The venture would prove beneficial to Glenlakes residents, Darby said.

“We potentially would drastically reduce our response time in that area,” the fire chief said. “Our current response time is 13 mintues.”

Darby said adding a fully-staffed fire station could reduce that time of response to between three and five mintues. In addition, the proposed station could serve the Beach Expressway and the Graham Creek area.

“Our response to Bay Veiw Drive is about 18 minutes,” Darby said, adding that the proposed fire station could shave  off 10 minutes.

But before a station can be added, steps must be taken. Following the Boslohs’ proposal, Darby, Foley Mayor John Koniar and several City Council members met with approximately 100 members of the Glenlakes community to see if such a project would be of interest.

Following questions and a positive response from the community, Darby approached the City Council Monday for  $5,000 to survey the land and to do site work on the property, which the council granted. If the test results are favorable, Darby said he will then look into subdividing the property and accepting the amount needed for a fire station in Glenlakes.

“I believe that would greatly enhance how we serve that community,” Darby told the Council.