Fire Station Designs Presented

ORLEANS – In just a few weeks, an article will be put before voters at this year’s annual town meeting seeking a $60 million override to fund the construction of a new fire station. Earlier this month, the select board got a look at what that new facility might look like.

 The Galante Architecture Studio presented the board with four design concepts at its April 15 meeting. The designs are all for a “net zero” building that will offset any energy usage emanating from the facility, either through the use of solar panels, mounted photovoltaic arrays or a combination of the two.

 The issue of whether or not to build a new station as a net zero facility has been the subject of discussion in recent weeks. Given the project’s estimated $60 million price tag, which would be paid for by a debt exclusion if approved by voters at the May 11 town meeting and again on the ballot at the May 19 town election, some have argued that the building could be built at a lower cost without the net zero energy efficiency. There was also a question as to what exactly “net zero” means in the context of the fire station project.

 But the select board voted 5-0 April 15 to settle on a very straight forward definition of the term offered by the project’s architect, Ted Galante.

 “What you need to use on site, you produce onsite,” Select Board Chair Kevin Galligan said. “That’s basically what the message is.”

 All of the options presented are for a two-story building, as the town’s fire rescue building committee has voted against a three-story option that would have required the existing fire station to remain as part of the planning. The options also show separate spaces for department apparatus and turnout gear on the left and offices and living quarters on the right, as well as a training tower in the rear of the station.

 The first design shows a building with a flat roof with solar panels on top and a solar array mounted on the building’s front roofline. A second option is modified to feature a peaked roof over the apparatus bay. The third option follows a “clerestory” design with windows on the roof, while the fourth option calls for peaked roofs over the apparatus bay and the office and living space.

 “And fundamentally all the other elements stay the same,” Galante said “The floor plan stays the same, the site plan stays the same. We’re really just thinking about the mass of the building here and what that might mean.”

 The town’s current fire station, which first opened its doors in 1987, suffers from a lack of functional space. The station’s workout area is situated in the apparatus bay, while the main lobby doubles as the station’s CPR room.

 That lack of space poses significant health risks for the town’s fire personnel, Fire Chief Geof Deering noted. He said without proper separation between apparatus bays and the department’s living quarters, firefighters are nine percent more likely to get cancer, and 14 percent more likely to die of cancer.

 “We don’t have decontamination areas,” he said. “We don’t have modern ventilation. And that puts our firefighters, your firefighters, at risk for long-term health issues.” Deering added that the current station also suffers from air quality issues, electrical and plumbing issues, roof leaks and rodents.

 Andrea Reed of the select board said that the town has a “moral obligation” to provide better for its first responders.

 “I just want to say having spent time in the building that I don’t think we as a community can support any person going to work whose job makes them ill, much less bringing it home to their family,” she said.

 A floor plan presented at the April 15 meeting shows clear separation between the new apparatus bay and the station’s living quarters, and also outlines pathways firefighters can use to navigate through the new facility safely.

 “There are paths of travel where they come back from an incident, they put their gear in the extractor to clean it, they go into a shower, they clean themselves and then they go into the living quarters,” Galante said.

 The four design options range in cost from $50 million to $60 million, with the flat roofed design the least expensive and the dual peaked roof model the most costly. Finance Director Darrin Tangeman said that annual tax impact to property owners for a $60 million station would be $581.49 a year for a median valued single-family home ($1.15 million). That figure falls to $484.57 a year for a project with a $50 million price tag.

 Given the concerns voiced about the project cost, Michael Herman of the select board spoke in support of possibly keeping the existing station as part of the new design, which he said might help bring down the overall project cost.

 “It’s coming down to a dollar conversation,” he said. “I don’t know anybody who doesn’t understand the need for this and doesn’t understand how important this is for today and for the future. But unfortunately, it really comes down to these dollars.”

 But keeping the existing station would complicate many facets of the project as designed, Galante said. Plans presented to the select board call for parking both to the left of and behind the new station, which would front Eldredge Park Way.

 “It’s not just geo or the pv. It’s parking, it’s access, it’s other vehicles,” he said.

 The board also weighed options for wastewater service for the new facility. Mefford Runyon of the select board noted that Eldredge Park Way is not due to be brought onto town sewer for another 20 years. He asked if a septic system could be installed over that period until the new station can be sewered.

 “I will say we do have options, which is good,” Public Works Director Rich Waldo said. Those include installing a septic system on site, using a gravity system to pump wastewater out to Route 6A, and connecting to sewer on Route 6A via Clayton Circle.

 Galligan said that the fire rescue building committee is due to make its recommendation on a final project design soon. That recommendation would then come back to the select board for a vote, he said.

 Will voters have a final design to consider when debating the construction request on May 11?

 “If we can get something on the next select board agenda before town meeting, I’m all for it,” Galligan said.