Roanoke City Council reaffirmed its recently controversial preference for demolishing the 96-year-old Fire Station No. 7 to make room for a new one Tuesday, rejecting spending $51,000 on an architect to see if the old building could be made part of a new structure. Council also voted unanimously to authorize purchase of land nearby for off-street parking for the station staff — a need regardless of which building option council chose. Council had asked City Manager Bob Cowellcq / scc to get an estimate from the project architect for the cost of studying whether the historic station on Memorial Avenue could be re-used as part of an expanded station.