Cedar Area Fire and Rescue (CAFR) won’t be getting a new fire station after all – at least not with bond funds. Kasson Township voters rejected a proposal in Tuesday’s election that would have raised $5.8 million to fund the new facility. The 25-year bond proposal failed by a margin of more than 100 votes, with 394 voters (58.54 percent) casting their ballots against the initiative, compared to 279 votes (41.46 percent) in favor.

If approved, the new station would have augmented the capabilities of the increasingly-strained CAFR. Speaking to the Leelanau Ticker in September, Supervisor Greg Julian said that this July saw the department’s “largest call volume ever.”   

“To meet those needs, we need a second station to spread the distance, add staff, and make response times better,” Julian said.

Currently, CAFR’s only station is located in downtown Cedar. Had voters approved it, the new facility would have been built just west of the intersection of M-72 and Maple City Road.

The fire station was the only Leelanau-focused measure on the ballot on Tuesday, in any of the county’s precincts. Most local residents had nothing to vote for this Election Day.

In the City of Traverse City, though, the ballot included mayoral and city commission races, as well as multiple ballot proposals. Voters in the Leelanau County portion of the City of Traverse City came out in support of mayoral incumbent Amy Shamroe over challenger Tim Werner (102 votes to 66), and supported commission candidates Laura Ness (116 votes), Lance Boehmer (85 votes), and Peter Schous (79 votes) for the three open seats. The other two candidates in the race only trailed by a few votes, with Mary Mills collecting 70 ballots from Leelanau voters and Kenneth Funk 65.

Please see our sister publication, the Traverse City Ticker, for more complete reporting about City of Traverse City election results.