Fire Station Override Amount Cut By $5M

ORLEANS – The select board last week voted to reduce the amount of funding sought for the construction of a new fire station.

 Article 17 in the warrant for Monday’s annual town meeting seeks support for a $60 million debt exclusion to fund the construction of a new 39,000-square-foot station on Eldredge Park Way. But the select board on May 6 voted to lower the amount to $55 million.

 “This reduction reflects the team's continued commitment to meeting the needs of our fire-rescue department while being prudent with town finances,” the town wrote in a notice posted to the town website ahead of Monday’s meeting. 

 The move to reduce the amount of the override came following a presentation on the project from architect Ted Galante and the owner’s project manager, Rick Pomeroy. 

 Concerns have been raised publicly by some residents in recent weeks about the cost of constructing the new station, which would replace the existing station that first opened in 1987. 

 The town will bring forward a design for a two-story fire station that includes a peaked roof over the apparatus bay and a flat roof over the portion of the building housing the station’s living quarters and offices. Both the flat and peaked roofs will have solar panels affixed to them, while the project also calls for a standalone solar array on the property. The new station will also be outfitted with a training tower in the rear of the facility.

 In another last minute town meeting update, the town will recommend indefinite postponement on Article 26, which seeks $2.5 million to cover additional costs related to the third phase of sewering in the areas of Lonnie’s Pond, Arey’s Pond, Crystal Lake and Pilgrim Lake. 

 In a notice posted to the town website, town officials said that bids received for the additional work came in lower than anticipated, and that “the supplemental funding request is no longer necessary.”

 The annual town meeting starts at 6 p.m. Monday in the gymnasium of Nauset Regional Middle School.