The former American Freight is now the temporary Tri-Township Station 331.
Photos by Gary Budzak | The Gazette
A new gazebo behind the new township hall adds an amenity for those who rent the hall for receptions, etc.
Photos by Gary Budzak | The Gazette
The building of the Byxbe Campus for Delaware County offices may be the most noticeable thing happening in Brown Township, but it wasn’t the only thing that took place in 2022.
Those who drive along the Point have no doubt noticed that the Tri-Township Fire Department Station 331 has moved across the street, from 495 Sunbury Road to 680 Sunbury Road, which had been American Freight.
“The old girl was built in 1957 and had served the district well,” said Chief Troy Morris of the station in Brown’s Fall Newsletter. “The Point Project kind of forced our hand to move forward. The State of Ohio made an offer to purchase the building. We had already been working on getting some land at Byxbe Campus and designing a new building, in order to get ahead of the game with Point work and the headaches it was going to cause.”
The old station is abandoned, and trees have been cut down near the railroad tracks in preparation for the work ahead.
For now, the temporary station is meeting the needs of Tri-Township, which serves Brown, Delaware and Troy townships. The other station is #332 at 660 Coover Road.
“If you have been down Bowtown Road, you can see the progress our contractors have made with the new station,” Morris said. “In the planning process, it was discussed that this building will last a minimum of 50 years. As our needs change, we need to have a building capable of handling the future.”
The roundabout for the Byxbe Campus was installed last fall on state Route 521. Further down that road and to the right (5555 state Route 521), some changes were made to the Brown Township Hall, most visibly the addition of a gazebo behind the building.
“We purchased six acres behind the existing park off of 521,” said Trustee Gary Stegner in the newsletter. After selling the old township hall in August, Stegner said, “Now we are in the process of buying 2 acres off of N. Old St. Road on the north side of Kilbourne that will give us access to the 6 acres we previously purchased. Our goal is to put a drive back to the six acres off of N. Old St. Road for additional parking to relieve the parking congestion that we have at the new Township Hall when the hall is rented for special occasions and when baseball season is in play.”
Stegner said that he and fellow trustees Charles Miley and Connie Skinner were seeking resident input on what to do with the property. He noted that any additional type of ball field would take up nearly half of the six acres.
“We want to thank you in advance for your ideas on planning for the future of Brown Township,” Stegner wrote.
In other township news, Steve Lisano was selected as the new zoning inspector. He said that due to the selection, his wife, Julie, resigned from the Zoning Appeals Board.
Lastly, Brown gained its first subdivision last year, Oxford Woods, adding to the township’s 20-plus miles of roadways.
