High Falls will soon be getting a new state-of-the-art fire station and community meeting room on a 2.87-acre property right next to High Falls State Park.
The Monroe County Board of Commissioners is proud to announce it has purchased property at 42 Towaliga River Drive (just off High Falls Road) to house a new fire station. The location, which is behind the High Falls Dollar General, has been the site of the popular Falls View Restaurant for more than a half century. The existing building includes over 6,800 square feet of heated and cooled space. When including the addition of three bays for fire trucks, the new station will be about 10,000 square feet in size.
The new fire station will not only include over 1,600 square feet in community meeting space, but will also have a kitchen, will be Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant and will have men’s and women’s restrooms. It will also include space for a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) deputy to have an office on-site as well as living quarters for as many as a half-dozen firefighters. The three truck bays will have their exits at the front of the station, which will face High Falls Road.
Monroe County Commission Chairman Greg Tapley said of the county’s decision to upgrade High Falls’ fire facility: “With this purchase and relocation of the fire station, we get to enhance the safety of our citizens and visitors, improve the accommodations for our staff, and provide a much-needed community center for that area. This is another step in our continuing effort to make Monroe County a safer place to live, work and play.”
Bob Brown of Macon-based BTBB, Inc. is the architect of the new station while Macon-based Warren Associates, Inc. was awarded the construction contract earlier this year. Warren & Associates was also the builder for the county’s $2.3 million District Attorney/Public Defender office building, completed in January 2021.
The present High Falls fire station, located on High Falls Road just east of the new site, was built as a volunteer station and is the oldest fire station still in use in Monroe County. Among the present station’s problems are: inadequate sleeping arrangements, septic tank issues, marginal ceiling clearance for trucks and its distant proximity from I-75.
The new station project will be paid for using funds from a $20 million bond taken out in 2020 for building and water projects, including the Juliette water lines currently being installed. District 4 Commissioner George Emami, who represents High Falls, has also pledged his district’s discretionary funds to assist with the project.
Monroe County had initially entered into an intergovernmental agreement with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for the county to lease 1.64 acres of High Falls State Park property to build a new fire station at the corner of High Falls Road and Lakeshore Drive. However, DNR later notified the county that the Park’s property deed indicated the land must be used for recreation purposes, so Monroe County turned elsewhere for an effective solution.
Monroe County paid $375,756.25 for the property, and the transaction was finalized on Tuesday. Arthur Steve Estes and Ricci Lynn Estes had previously owned the property since 2018, where they had continued to operate the Falls View Restaurant, long known for its catfish. Monroe County Superior Court Judge Tommy Wilson’s father John first opened the restaurant in 1969, and the Wilson family continued to own and operate it for more than three decades.
Emami said Monroe County Commissioners particularly liked this spot because of its central location within High Falls almost directly across the street from the entrance to High Falls State Park. He said it was especially important that the existing building can be used and the new station won’t have to be built from the ground up, allowing for more “bang for the buck.”
Emami said of the purchase: “As Commissioners, we fully understand the value that this restaurant had in terms of fostering community in High Falls. We fully intend to preserve that legacy of community building with our new fire station.”
