South Street
The original concept was to relocate the fire station to property that the Town already owns on South St., just south of NAPA Auto Parts. The Exploration Committee worked with the civil engineers and architects to investigate the feasibility of using that site and estimating the costs associated with constructing the Public Safety building there.
Although the site was considered because of its obvious advantages, it was ultimately determined that the site was not suitable for a Public Safety building.
Pros
- Since the Town owns the property, there would be no out-of-pocket property acquisition costs
- The location is at the edge of a commercial area of town, where there are relatively few nearby residences
Cons
- The Town’s frontage on South St. is relatively narrow, indicating that the buildings would need to be set far back from the highway
- The parcel has a significant slope away from South St., indicating that:
- Substantial “fill” would be required to level the area to be built (and the associated parking area)
- The existing piles of material removed when the sewer line was extended are not “clean” fill–they include many large trees and stumps that would be expensive to separate
- The driveway from the building to the street would have a meaningful uphill grade–indicating that it would need to be plowed and sanded aggressively to ensure 24/7 emergency vehicle egress during the winter
- Even without the extra costs of leveling the parcel for construction, the engineers/architects advised the Committee that the expected cost to construct the facility would be $10.5 million
Beech Hill Rd.
A property on Beech Hill Rd. was also considered and reviewed by the engineers. In their view,
- The land would still require substantial fill to level out
- The neighborhood was much more residential, with essentially no commercial activity
- The facility would cost more than $10.5 million (similar to the South St. location)
Other Properties
The Committee considered other properties as well, looking for
- Buildable (relatively flat) parcels ,
- On the town’s major roads,
- In commercial or undeveloped areas,
- Which were not too far from the existing fire station location (because moving a substantial distance would cause some areas of Blue Hill to be recharacterized as higher risk sites for property insurance purposes–the objective was to minimize the increase in cost for affected homeowners)
Although a handful of sites were identified and considered, they were ultimately not selected because of the distance from the fire station, the owners’ lack of motivation to sell, and the $10.5 million cost estimate for a “new build” facility.