Fire Station Plans Advance, School Officials Advocate For OES

ORLEANS – As a request to fund the design and construction of a new fire station gets set to go before town meeting voters in May, the Orleans Elementary School committee wants to make sure that the town is equally committed to building a new school in the years ahead.
 
The school committee and select board held a joint meeting March 24 where both panels were updated on plans to create a town campus on land now occupied by the fire station and elementary school on Eldredge Park Way. A new community center is also part of the envisioned campus, which is being designed by Galante Architecture Studio of Cambridge.
 
But while particulars for the new $44.4 million fire station are largely in place and ready to go before voters at the May 12 annual town meeting, details on the cost of a new elementary school and community center are not.
 
“I get that you want to make a commitment on the fire station,” said Gail Briere, who chairs the elementary school committee. “But I want to make sure that there’s also a commitment to carry on with this plan to address the needs of the school.”
 
Ted Galante said that a new elementary school could cost $76 million for a one-story building and $77.5 million for a two-story model, while a new community center is estimated to cost approximately $73 million. But those are far from hard numbers, Galante said, noting that both buildings are still several years away from being built.
 
Still, Select Board Chair Mark Mathison emphasized the town’s commitment to building a new elementary school after a new fire station. The original portion of the current elementary school dates back to 1956.
 
“We have a community here that has always valued education, and knows the responsibility the community has to provide the best education possible,” he said. “This community has always done that. I don’t for one second think that support is going to erode away in the near future or the distant future.”
 
Galante presented several options for a campus design, all of which show the proposed community center next to a new elementary school. The new fire station, meanwhile, is proposed for the bottom right portion of the property fronting Eldredge Park Way.

In one option, the center is a standalone building, while in another the center and the school are adjoined by a large connecting corridor. In the latter model, the center and school would share some resources, including a gymnasium. There are also options showing the center to the left and the right of the new school.
 
But some school officials and residents raised concerns that integrating the community center with a new school would compromise student safety. They noted that members of the public could be granted access to the adjoining center during school hours.
 
“Smushing a community center up against an elementary school is not creating a safe space for elementary school children,” said Katherine McNamara of the school committee.

Orleans resident Emily Miller argued for the school to be sited across from the community center, where new baseball diamonds are proposed. Galante said that option was explored, but that it didn’t prove feasible.
 
“I think the community center was seen as somehow an adjunct to this building,” Galante said. He said going forward, there would need to be regulations put in place for hours of operation for the community center so as to not interfere with the school.
 
Others sought assurance that students and staff at the elementary school would be safe once construction on the fire station gets underway nearby. Galante said in July or August 2026, a separate roadway would be built off of the existing entrance into the school property that would lead into the site of the new fire station.
 
Galante estimated that both the center and school would take between 18 and 24 months to build, but hard numbers in terms of cost and dates for design and construction still need to be nailed down. Meanwhile, particulars including the school size and how it will be designed still need to be sorted out.
 
“I’m just looking at that as questions that need to be answered by the school committee,” Mathison said.
 
The particulars around the new fire station are much more solid, Galante said. If funding is approved in May, the project would likely go out to bid in March 2026. Construction would take place from May 2026 through July 2027, he said.
 
The new station would allow for up to 57 parking spaces, 27 more than at the existing station. There also would be dedicated space for staff training and medical simulation exercises, Fire Chief Geof Deering said.
 
“We were tasked with building a building that would put us into the future and make us a premiere organization,” he said. “So that’s what you see when you look at this building.” Deering added that the training space could possibly be utilized as a regional facility by other Cape fire departments.

Galante said the $44.4 million price tag will hold up if the town keeps to the proposed timetable, and if the existing station can remain in use during construction of the new facility. But some in attendance on March 24 weren’t so sure. Orleans resident Ken Heritage noted that the cost doesn’t take into account potential tariffs that could drive up the project cost.

“The Trump steel price will be at least 15 percent more than it is now,” he said. “If those tariffs don’t go away, steel is up 15 percent, period.”

The annual town meeting is scheduled for May 12 at 6 p.m. in the gymnasium of Nauset Regional Middle School.

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com