Selectmen give green light, but not greenbacks, to fire station project

The Board of Selectmen unanimously directed the Fire Station Building Advisory Committee to prepare a proposal for renovating and expanding the fire station for the 2008 Town Meeting, but stopped short of endorsing the multi-million dollar initiative.

Preliminary estimates peg the total cost of the design, engineering and construction phases of the project at $2.7 million, of which $216,300 would be met by an expendable capital reserve to leave a net cost of $2.5 million.

Selectman Bob Flanders, who co-chaired the committee, told the board that the panel recommended adding to two sides of the existing station — to the rear facing Oak Street and to the north along Collis Brook — while renovating and reconfiguring the original building. The addition to the north would house new apparatus bays, representing the largest share of the expansion, and also include office space and living quarters, which Flanders noted could be completed in the future. Meeting space, storage rooms, a workshop, gym and kitchen would ring the existing apparatus bays.

Early in the planning process, the committee agreed that the building should serve the department for the foreseeable future, which Chief Chuck Palm said would likely bring the transition from an exclusively volunteer to a partially professional company of firefighters. Likewise, Flanders explained that the committee compared expanding on the current site of the fire station or building at another location, applying and scoring a dozen criteria against eight possible sites. Despite the confines of the current site of slightly more than 22,000 square feet, the advantages of renovation and expansion significantly outweighed those of building a new on another site.

"We'd like your blessing that we're headed in the right direction," Flanders told the board, explaining that it remained to complete the construction documents, put the project out to bid and set a "guaranteed maximum price" for Town Meeting.

Andre Kloetz of Bauen Corporation, construction manager for the project, said that the preliminary estimates were based on four pages of blueprints while the second budget would be based on 44 pages of blueprints.

The budget for the preconstruction phase of the project, which includes architectural and engineering fees as well as surveying and geotechnical costs, is $224,671, of which about $75,000 has been spent.

Frank Michel, chairman of the Selectboard, reminded Flanders that "we have not started to look at the 2008 budget in earnest," but added "I have no problem endorsing what's been presented today. We're not through yet, but let's keep rolling. It's September going on March."

Flanders said that the committee had begun to turn its efforts to developing and disseminating information about the project. A power point presentation and cable network show are being prepared, he said, and open houses at the fire station will be scheduled.