Attachments

20260520-230917-c51-Ambulance DistrictLetter to Council Etc.pdf

The Fayette City Council rejected the Howard County Ambulance District’s request to rezone land it purchased last fall with the intent to build a new ambulance base. The action was in response to widespread calls by neighborhood residents to maintain the RS1 designation requiring single-family homes.

But the Ambulance District will proceed with its plans, regardless. A letter to the city from Frank Robert Flaspohler, a local attorney who works for the ambulance district as an EMT and as legal counsel, asserts that the city does not have the jurisdiction to deny a conditional use permit because the ambulance base is a public facility. “The City’s zoning regulations may not be applied to prohibit, condition, or delay that facility,” the letter stated.

Attorney Flaspohler cited Chapter 190 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, which governs political subdivisions such as ambulance districts. While it remains a common legal position taken by governmental entities, Missouri courts have rejected it in similar contexts involving local land-use regulations.

The council’s vote on Tuesday, May 12, was nearly unanimous against the proposal, with one abstention by Michelle Ishmael, Northwest Ward representative. Several neighborhood residents have voiced their objections to the new base to the council in recent meetings, and another spoke again on Tuesday. Residents say they don’t want the new base located among residential housing and worry it would exacerbate ongoing sewer problems and rainwater drainage issues and increase traffic along already narrow streets.

Mayor Greg Stidham told this newspaper on Friday that he hasn’t spoken to a single resident of the area who wants it. “I think the council made the right decision. There wasn’t a single homeowner down there that is in favor of it. I don’t think the council had a lot of options other than to say ‘no’ to it.”

The district claims it is running out of room at its current base, which was built in the early 1990s. It sits about two blocks north of the double lot it purchased on the corner of Williams and Cooper streets. Ambulance director Frank Flaspohler, the father of attorney Frank Robert Flaspohler, said the district wants to build a new base that will not only fit the ambulance vehicles more adequately but also be a nice place for its crews to reside when on duty. The district recently won voter approval for a change in the way it brings in tax revenue, resulting in an increase of more than $300,000 per year. That increase allows for two on-duty crews running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, starting May 10.

Having two full-time crews requires better quarters, Flaspohler told the Advertiser Friday morning. And having a base that could accommodate visiting family members of crew members on duty is the desire. That, he says, will help attract more ambulance personnel even when the district can’t pay as much as surrounding districts. He also said the ultimate goal will be to have all personnel and ambulances entirely in the new base.

“If [we] can have a nice facility here with a yard where the families can come up here, they can visit while they’re not on the run. That will attract people.”

Flaspohler also addressed concerns of residents, saying the district would hire a “professional person” to look at the best options for controlling rain runoff. And he suggested the ambulance crews would create less sewage than a family if a house were to be built on the property instead.

“It’s unfortunate. I know they don’t like the idea. I’m not convinced that the ambulance is going to make any more noise or any more problems for them,” Flaspohler said. “I actually think it’s going to be a benefit to them because they have a building with cameras and security.”

Southwest Ward Alderman J.B. Waggoner cited the lack of a formal construction plan as part of the reason he voted against the redistricting, along with his steadfast desire to protect RS1 zoning. Flaspohler said designing such a plan would take four or five months, but the district closed on the property in November (five months ago). This newspaper asked Flaspohler why the district’s board bothered to request a conditional use zoning change if it knew it would not have to seek city approval.

Flaspohler said the board discussed it and wanted “to make the city a part of it. They wanted to go through their zoning requests, that way the city knew what was going on. We communicated everything and had a good open line to work together.”

Moments after the city’s vote on Tuesday, Flaspohler and board members met across the street from City Hall at Frank Robert Flaspohler’s building, Tricky Fish Community Room. The letter to the city was dated the following day, Wednesday, May 13.

“Please accept this letter as formal notice that the Howard County Ambulance District intends to proceed with construction and operation of the ambulance base without further City land-use approval,” the letter stated, and asked that any objections be presented in writing within 10 days.

A full copy of the letter is available to view here.

Mayor Stidham said the council will discuss the matter with the city’s new attorney, Erin Wiseman, who was hired during the same Tuesday meeting as the ambulance vote.

“There’s always two sides to it, so they’re going to look at it differently. But it’s going to take the attorneys to figure out what they can really do without city approval,” the mayor said.

Suggestions from neighbors and the city have abounded regarding alternative locations to build a new base. Flaspohler claims the ambulance board has been looking for three years. Efforts to build in the old McDonald’s, the former O’Brian gas station, and the Howard Electric building were all deemed too costly, he said. He rejected ideas of renting space inside the Keller Building right next to the current base. And he is adamant about having the new base located along Highway 5, rather than across town, because two-thirds of calls are from the Glasgow and New Franklin areas, he said.

But the mayor said it appears to him the ambulance board made a hasty decision when buying the property. “I think the ambulance board should have checked out that purchase before they actually bought it and maybe run it by the city or planning and zoning or talked to their neighbors before they bought it just to make sure there weren’t going to be any issues,” Mayor Stidham said.

Flaspohler said he estimates the cost of constructing a new ambulance base at around $1 million, which the district will have to borrow.