By John Collins
The Lowell Sun
PELHAM, N.H. — The fire chief was alarmed by the news.
Construction of the federally funded, $3.5 million dual-roundabout project in the town center will begin next March, when utility crews will work in the manhole in front of the fire station, state officials announced.
The fire station’s front doors must close immediately at that time, 11 months from now, New Hampshire Department of Transportation executives informed Fire Chief James Midgley and town officials at a March 24 meeting in Concord.
“The chief reacted as if he’d been hit over the head with a two-by-four,” said Selectman Bill McDevitt at last week’s selectmen’s meeting.
Midgley has stated repeatedly that closing the front garage doors of the station and being restricted to using only the rear doors will reduce firetruck and ambulance response times dramatically, negatively impacting public safety.
In previous DOT updates, Midgley was led to believe that even though work might begin on the first roundabout in front of Town Hall next spring, work on the second roundabout is not likely until spring 2013.
“The reason the chief almost fell off his chair is because — even though we lost this latest vote for a new fire station — we thought we had some time. And he’s not going to have time (to solve the problem),” Selectman Hal Lynde said. “There’s no money there to do anything. Instead, he’s just going to have to — boom — close the front doors.”
Despite the chief’s concerns and contrary to selectmen’s recommendations, in March last year and the election this year, voters rejected spending $3.9 million and $3.5 million, respectively, to place a new fire station on the Village Green.
Lynde floated the idea of scheduling a Special Town Meeting in August for the purpose of taking another vote on a new fire station.
Town Administrator Tom Gaydos said contractors told him if the new fire station is approved in August, they could erect a new “weathertight” building on the Village Green by the end of the year.
“Because we have so much of the groundwork already done — we have the contractors selected, the guaranteed maximum price, everything ready for that Town Meeting — and because of the materials used — concrete — you have a longer building season,” Gaydos told the board. “But that would mean that we would have to have a BOS decision on a new Town Meeting within the next four weeks.
“If we are going to do it, it’s something we’d have to do soon,” Gaydos said.
Selectmen Chairman Ed Gleason said the decision on whether to schedule a special Town Meeting would be made only after further discussion at the next two board meetings, including weighing all options that might be in the best interest of the town.
“We talked with the chief about it and he recognized the need to come up with a contingency plan of how he’s going to juggle his equipment around to minimize the impact on response time,” said Gleason. “That’s his primary concern right now.”
Gaydos said the roundabouts work schedule, newly released by the DOT, calls for bidding on the above-ground work to begin March 6, 2012, with the bid to be awarded March 29. Construction of the first roundabout will begin May 10. Underground utility work will be done before then, Gaydos said.
A next key step in the project involves selectmen recommending which type of building material should be used in constructing the circular, “truck apron” of the roundabout, Gaydos said. Options include using paving stones, bricks or acrylic.
“They mentioned acrylic because it already comes with a color in it, you don’t have to repaint it, and a good scrubbing makes it look practically brand new,” Gaydos noted. “They have an acrylic apron on the roundabout in North Conway. So that’s one of the visits we plan to make to check it out.”
New Hampshire has 21 roundabouts. The first was built in 2002 on Route 130 at Broad Street in Nashua at the entrance to Nashua High School North. Seventeen more are under construction or planned, including two in Pelham and two in Londonderry on the Manchester Airport Access Road.
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