Opinion: New Northborough Fire Station Is Too Costly

The following was submitted as a letter to the editor. If you would like to submit your letter to the editor, email it to samantha.mercado@patch.com

Can we afford to live in Northborough anymore? This is a question many of us ask ourselves each year, as our taxes skyrocket and our services plummet. It's time we started asking hard questions and got honest answers to them so that we may better understand the financial hardship we will be bringing on ourselves after the 2019 Northborough Town Meeting.

The presentations on funding and spending are tedious and impossible to digest in 30 minutes. How do we make an informed decision on how much more money we give to the municipality to spend with no time to understand the full impact it will have. Many things are represented in a way to deflect that impact. Yet 200-400 residents come in to make those decisions for the entire town in moments. I'd like to highlight one of the proposals coming before the citizens this year.
A new fire station. The project is state-of-the art with 2 floors, 6 double bays, 6 separate bedrooms for 12 beds, 5 full baths on second floor and 2 on the first, a fitness room, commercial kitchen, dining and living room, laundry and mechanical room, 6 separate offices (one for the chief, captain, deputy, administrative staff, radio dispatch and more), a kitchenette, a conference room and a large training room (almost the size of the entire second floor) and more. It will require a minimum 2+ acres to accommodate the building and driveway.

The proposed location is 61 and 65 West Main Street, better known as the former Pierce Gas Station across from Dunkin Donuts. Let me remind you this site has been vacant for years and with good reason. It was a former gas station. When asked about the remediation at the most recent meeting, the audience was told that it had been cleared. Okay, then why hasn't this location been revitalized before now? Is it up to the Town to roll the dice, again, on a potential hazardous contamination land purchase? Our track record is not good and our pockets not that deep. Don't kid yourself with the line The seller is responsible. We'll pay for engineering oversight and increased dollars for higher costs to build as well as another year of construction disturbance. Imagine 2 years of construction vehicles coming and going against the Route 20 traffic and Dunkin Donuts, now add another year.

Maybe the property is unsightly but this location is a bad investment for the Town. We will forever lose potential tax revenue if we invest in this lot for a municipal entity. It sits on a Groundwater District 3 and the venting of hazardous gasses into the air, the residue from washing of trucks and contaminated uniforms make this a less than prudent location for this project.

We haven't even talked about the traffic impact. Stopping traffic and pulling out on to two lanes across from Dunkin Donuts, there is no third lane to help with traffic management when trucks are deployed. In addition, the purchase of 10 Monroe Street will be needed to tear down the building and utilize the land to secure the hill behind it. Land acquisition is proposed is 3.5 million dollars including related site costs. You will be told that a little over 1 million is left over from the Lincoln Street school bond capability to go toward that 3.5 million, but bond capability is NOT free cash.

If all goes well you can expect at least $ 18,800,000 PLUS $ 3,500.000Y22 million if all goes well. How does that factor into your tax increase? How much more in operating expenses will then be brought before the Appropriations Committee once the palace is up and running, year after year?

You will not be offered an alternative land location or pared down fire house facility during this presentation, or pricing options, only a request for 3.5 million to start. There is a proposition 2.5 over ride requested as well. Its beautiful and I think our firemen and emergency response personnel absolutely deserve our whole-hearted appreciation and a safe environment to prepare for our emergencies, a new Hazardous Cleaning Room, upgrading of ventilation, and even new
furniture, but this project is excessive. If 68% of our calls are EMS, then perhaps we should design the station with that in mind.

Do we need a workout room? Can't we arrange for all our municipal employees to work out at Boost? Do we need an Emergency Conference Room? I dare say when the nuclear missiles hit, that sitting under our desks will be a mute point. Do we need a commercial kitchen or 7 bathrooms?
When we get done paying for our fire palace, where will the funding come from for the new police station, the new town hall, the Peaslee School, Melican, Proctor or Zeh? Why aren't we looking to combine our police and fire stations?

Go to the Town website's home page, click on Fire Station Committee and read it for yourself. This committee has done a lot of hard work to get this project put together for you, but we're not done. For a better understanding, check it out and then let them know you appreciate their efforts.

Lets go back to the drawing board and see how we pare down the wants versus needs to our pocketbooks. Look at renovating the exiting fire station, not demolishing it. Or find a better location to compare to. It took the Town of Westborough three years of town meetings to finally get their project accepted. Why should we shrug and say How bad could it be?

There should be two alternatives for site and size. Say no to the Pierce Gas Station location, no to the excess. When this article comes up at town meeting this year we would all be well served to pass over the article. Don't let a Trojan horse approach rob you of realty. We need a serious question and answer meeting, with an emphasis on answers, just to discuss the magnitude of this project to see what the taxpayer will really be asked to pay for. We have too much penny-wise pound foolish in this town, lets take some responsibility for this proposed tax increase. Don't let this be a done deal before it is even vetted. I for one will not be able to afford to live here anymore. How about you?

William C. Jeas