Rincon City Council members are expected to hold a zoning hearing at their next meeting on the city’s newly-annexed 66 acres off Blue Jay and McCall roads.

Council members set a cost estimate and looked at ideas for what the fire station proposed for the tract will look like.

“It’s not a construction plan. It’s more of a concept plan,” said city engineer Tim Baumgartner.

Baumgartner said he and Fire Chief Corey Rahn looked at the project and the building. There is a building suitable for a fire station, and Effingham County commissioners, in a 3-2 vote last month, agreed to let the city annex the tract and also approved a pact for the city to operate a fire station on the land.

Under the agreement, the county will pay the city $135,768 annually. The city will have a 24-hour person at the station.

The building will have 14-foot-wide bay doors, and also it could have a commons area.

Baumgartner estimated it would take about $120,000 to get the project started.

“You’re talking about potentially putting an ambulance in there and a 24-hour guy in there,” Rahn said. “Station 2 was done for about $108,000. But it has no sleeping quarters. There’s no fluff in this.”

Baumgartner and Rahn also looked at where a septic tank could be placed on the property. Extending sewer lines to the tract is seen as too costly currently.

“You’d have to have more revenue from development on that property,” said City Manager Wesley Corbitt.

The city also is adjusting its personnel to meet the needs for the new station. Adding a 24-hour person to the third station would put the city’s full-time complement at seven, with three 24-hour firefighters and one daytime position per shift.

Council members also approved the first reading of the annexation of the 66.2 acres and they will hold a public hearing April 14 on the tract’s zoning.

Council members also approved buying a new car for the police department’s criminal investigation division. It will replace a 2006 Dodge Charger that has 136,000 miles.

“It’s at the end of its road,” Police Chief Phillip Scholl said, “but it’s a good car.”