Tilton-Northfield Fire & EMS looks at expanding fire station, or land swap

TILTON — The commissioners of Tilton-Northfield Fire & EMS are looking into two options for closing the Center Street Station. One proposal, which has been put on hold, would expand the Park Street Station in Northfield to accommodate all fire department operations. A second proposal, in the preliminary stages of consideration, would build a new fire station on Sanborn Road with minor renovations to the Park Street facility.

The second option was recently proposed by Fire Chief Michael Sitar Jr. after the Tilton Selectboard proposed a land swap, giving the fire district a lot next to the police station on Sanborn Road in exchange for the Center Street lot.

Fire Commissioners Jon Cilley, Paul Auger and Eric Pyra met with the Tilton Selectboard last week to discuss whether the plan would make sense. All agreed that it was worth looking into the costs, but there was no clear indication of which direction the project should go.

“Plan A” — which the Fire Station Building Committee has been looking into since the defeat of a $7.19 million building proposal in 2019 — would expand the Park Street Station to between 18,000 and 20,000 square feet to house all fire and EMS operations.

“Plan B” would build a 14,000-square-foot facility on Sanborn Road to house most of the apparatus, and renovate Park Street to add a meeting room, possibly a training room, and allow firefighters to operate out of that facility without having to sit in an unheated garage as they do currently.

The majority of building committee members continue to favor Plan A, with committee chair Kevin Cate saying he would not continue to serve on the committee if it now turned to a new plan.

“It took us a lot of time and a lot of work to get to that [plan] that was unanimously decided upon, the recommendation being a single station at Park Street,” Cate said during the fire commissioners’ Sept. 8 meeting. “One of the biggest things was we want to get this thing done. We want to get this approved by the voters, and cost was reiterated over and over again.”

The square foot cost of construction for fire facilities was around $325 per square foot last year, but may be as high as $350 per square foot now — and by the time plans for a two-station approach are complete, it might not go before voters until 2024, when the price is likely to be higher.

“You can expect the cost to go up at least a quarter of a million to half a million just for the same exact design that you designed today,” Cilley told the selectboard. “Pausing this is hurting us, so that’s why the due diligence is to look at the Sanborn Road property, but it has to be done in a very timely fashion. ... If it doesn’t look like the town of Tilton selectmen are in favor of this, please just let us know earlier rather than later.”

The reasons are many for abandoning the Center Street station, Sitar has said. Trucks responding to a fire have to navigate a narrow street and then try to turn onto Main Street, which can be difficult if vehicles are parked at the intersection. If heading toward exit 20 of Interstate 93, heavy traffic can be an obstacle.

The Center Street station was built in 1867, with an addition in 1895. The foundation — part brick and part concrete — is crumbling, and the older equipment bay is not level. Because of the low overhead area, fire apparatus must be specially engineered to fit in the Center Street station, adding to its expense, Sitar said.

The station also fails to meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. A steep staircase leads to the office area, there are steps between the rooms, and firefighters returning from a fire and covered with ash and contaminants must walk through the office and break room before washing off. There is no room for expansion there because the station already takes up the entire lot.