By Rita Savard
Lowell Sun
CHELMSFORD, Mass. — It’s round two at Tuesday’s polls for a new fire-station headquarters.
After a $12 million proposal failed in 2009, a cheaper, smaller plan is back on the table for $9 million. With just days remaining before the town election, Chelmsford residents appeared split down the middle on spending the money.
Supporters said the dilapidated Center Station, built in 1952, has become a public-safety issue and needs to be replaced. Opponents said the economic climate hasn’t recovered enough to warrant a multimillion-dollar building project at this time.
“It’s important to fund public safety properly and I do think that’s one area in town that’s been neglected,” said Tracy Callahan, of Moore Street. “You wouldn’t see a business with a building in the condition that our fire station is in. They wouldn’t be allowed to operate like that.”
The floor at 2 North Road has been eroding since 2003, when ceiling-to-floor shoring was installed to brace the structure. Now that Band-Aid approach, town officials said, is reaching its maximum time limit.
Daigle Engineers Inc., a Methuen-based independent engineering company, warned the town in 2009 that firetrucks should be parked with caution because the floor was in danger of collapsing. A protective sealant was applied over the floor and shorings were stabilized. But engineers, who are required to inspect the building every six months, said the fix should only serve as a temporary solution.
Larry Vidoli, of Prescott Drive, still thinks the current proposal costs too much.
“I think they can build a station for a little less money,” Vidoli said. “I also don’t want to see my taxes go up any more. It’s a lot of money to spend.”
Town Manager Paul Cohen said if the project is approved, the excluded debt-service portion of the property-tax bill for the average single-family home assessed for $325,000 is projected to increase by $7 for the next fiscal year. The excluded debt service would increase by $13 for the following fiscal year, then decline, Cohen said.
Another issue for some voters has been the proposed site for the new station, at Chelmsford and Wilson streets, where the town softball fields are located. The site, said Cohen, is one of the few parcels of town-owned land left to build on. The area was also chosen as the best location for meeting required emergency-response times -- four minutes or less -- by an independent study group, MMA Consulting of Brookline, in 2007.
Judith Taylor, of Longmeadow Road, said she fully supports a new fire-station headquarters, but “hates to see the ballfields go.”
“I know the conditions of the firehouse are bad and there’s no question we need to do something about that,” she said. “But I’d like to see a little more investigation into alternative sites.”
Donald Mitchell, of Montcastle Drive, has been inside the old station, and said it’s time for a change.
“Nobody likes new taxes,” he said. “But you have to keep things up. You wouldn’t let your house fall apart like that.”
Historically, debt exclusions, which raise the tax levy only until the debt is repaid, have needed to come to the table more than once before voters finally accept them. Renovating the Chelmsford library, for example, took four votes to pass.
Cohen said if the station passes this time around, it will mark the end of Chelmsford’s major capital needs and expenses for the rest of the decade.
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