TURTLECREEK TWP. — This growing Warren County township is getting serious about constructing a new administration building and fire station.

        The current building, on Ohio 63 just west of Lebanon, is full to bursting with employees, fire engines, salt trucks and other necessities, township officials say. When more than a dozen residents show up for a township trustees meeting, they have to move the firetrucks and ambulances out of the bays and set up chairs there.

        It's because of growth in the township, Trustee Dan George said. Turtlecreek, which surrounds Lebanon in central Warren County, saw a 21 percent population increase in the 1990s alone, to more than 12,600, according to the U.S. Census.

        The obstacle to a new administration building has been that land the township bought on Ohio 123 is in Lebanon city limits. The previous city council refused to deannex the land — which would put it back in the township — but three seats changed hands in November. Friendlier relations with Turtlecreek have been a goal of the new council, and council members will take up the deannexation request at a work session Thursday.

        “The township has been very diligent in working with the city on parks and other things,” said Councilman James Reinhard, who favors deannexing the site.

        Councilman Ben Cole, however, wants more information.

        “I don't think the township is going to put up an ugly building, but I don't think it's too much to ask exactly what they're going to put up,” he said.

        Mr. Cole also questioned whether the site is ideal for protecting township residents.

        Township Fire Chief Bill Stevens, however, said response times to central township locations will be virtually the same as at the Ohio 63 location and, in the case of the Otterbein retirement community, a bit faster.

        “A lot of our runs are to Otterbein because of the population out there,” he said.

        Two other fire stations cover eastern and western Turtlecreek.

        Township trustees and employees could begin meeting as soon as Tuesday to begin “putting lines on paper,” Mr. George said. Details such as the cost of the building and a timetable for finishing have not been worked out.

        The township will likely sell the Ohio 63 building, he said. Trustees decided it couldn't be expanded because it sits on only about 2 acres, he said.

        The new site, in contrast, is about 27 acres. It's adjacent to land that Turtlecreek sold to Lebanon City Schools recently for a new elementary school.

        The township and the schools plan to share parking areas, Mr. George said.

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