VALLEY — The Fairfax fire station owned by the East Alabama Water Sewer and Fire Protection District will soon be annexed by the city of Valley.

The property was originally part of the West Point Pepperell property located in the Fairfax community of Valley but was considered industrial park status, meaning it was under the county’s jurisdiction. The county commission voted unanimously on Monday, Sept. 17 to remove the property from industrial status on East Alabama’s request.

“The property had always been in industrial park status and [East Alabama] wanted to go ahead and get everything completed with construction, because when you’re an industrial park you work under the county’s rules,” said Chambers County Attorney Skip McCoy. “They wanted it removed from industrial park status so that ultimately it can be annexed into the city of Valley.”

After the commission’s vote, there is a 30-day period in which someone can object to the status change. Once those thirty days are up in October, the commissioners will reconvene in a public hearing to consider the East Alabama’s petition to the City of Valley to have the former Fairfax Mill property removed from industrial park status and annexed.

East Alabama will still own the property as any other business would, but that property will be within the city instead of in industrial park status under the county’s hand.

“East Alabama has already authorized me to have it annexed into the City of Valley,” McCoy said. “It will actually go from industrial park [status] to [Valley] police jurisdiction to the City of Valley before the end of the year.”

Both East Alabama fire stations, the Fairfax station #3 and the one on Fob James already provide services to the city of Valley, and, once the new one is annexed as well, city residents will be, legally speaking, now within close proximity to a city fire station no matter where they live.

“The beauty of this station is that it puts East Alabama within the five mile radius of all its customers,” McCoy said. “That helps with their ISO rating for all the property owners in regards to their insurance premiums… it puts everybody within that radius of a station.”