“It’s the journey, not the destination,” say therapists and philosophers. If so, then Bernardston has put in tortuous miles on its journey to a new fire station, even if the destination has apparently led right back to where it all started, at 18 Church St., with the recent announcement that the latest plan is for the Fire Department to add new bays onto its current building.
It’s a decision that townspeople seem comfortable with, emerging as it has from a process that began more than two years ago with the appointment of a New Fire Station Feasibility Study Committee whose members lost no time in making their case to fellow residents. In its current tight quarters, constructed in the early 1970s, the fire trucks need to be driven out from the station before the firefighters can hold training or even lay out their hoses to dry. It houses four vehicles, with no room for the department’s three equipment trailers, which are stored outside, and little office or training space.
By November 2016, architects from Stevens & Associates had developed four scenarios:
a) a 9,000-square-foot building with eight apparatus bays and a single-story layout, with an estimated cost of between $1,972,000 and $2,242,000.
b) a building with six apparatus bays that would be two stories with an elevator and stairs, estimated at between $1,836,000 and $2,086,000.
c) a building similar to nearby Guilford, Vt.’s fire station, with nearly 7,000 square feet, the potential for drive-through apparatus bays and a small footprint. It would cost between $1,494,000 and $1,698,000.
d) Using the existing building and adding two additions, providing five apparatus bays, coming in between $1,304,000 and $1,481,250.
During a Nov. 15, 2016, public forum, residents proposed purchasing a new lot to build a larger station that would accommodate the department far into the future. Three lots were subsequently identified: a 1.28-acre lot at 1 Brattleboro Road (the site of the former Bernardston Inn) for $175,000, a 5.62-acre lot at 23 Kringle Drive for $695,000 and a 3.5-acre lot at 1 Northfield Road for $595,000. The Kringle Drive lot would have offered more possibilities for expansion and the department voted to pursue that as a first choice. Complicating the decision were wetlands concerns in the center of town and the proffered donation by Frank “Bud” Foster of 12 Church St., which would displace two residents.
By fall of 2017, the price of the Kringle Drive property had been negotiated down from $695,000 to $595,000, and a comparison of building sites showed that building in the historic, downtown location, even with the gift of land, would only save the town $68,000.
But on Oct. 26, 2017, nearly 200 residents overwhelmingly rejected a $2.6 million proposal to purchase land and construct a new fire station at 23 Kringle Drive. There ensued talk of combining a fire station in a public safety building that would incorporate multiple town offices and by the following day, half the Fire Station Expansion Committee was ready to resign.
“A lot of time and effort went into this,” said Fire Chief Peter Shedd, following the 165 to 31 vote. “At this point, I think we’re better off letting things lie.”
It was a low point for the committee.
“We’re still going to do our job to the best of our ability and work with the equipment we have,” Shedd said.
By February of 2018, it was back to the drawing board for the committee which, by June, had identified a new location for the fire station: the Valley Concrete and Construction property on Route 10, near Mount Hermon Station Road, on the Northfield line. The Valley Concrete property would have been big enough for a building with offices and training rooms, and it would fit the department’s trucks more comfortably. But, as the selectmen pointed out last fall, in explaining their recommendation against the property, its location at one end of town would likely reduce response times.
The announcement on Feb. 1 of this year that the Selectboard and Shedd had settled on an addition to the fire station allows the town to move forward at last.
“It’s not going to be everything the Fire Department needs,” said Selectman Bob Raymond, “but it’s going to be a hell of a lot better than what they have now.”
Concurrently, the Planning Board is preparing a set of design standards to present at this year’s Town Meeting, which would require new buildings to fit the aesthetic style of the town. Shedd and the Selectboard posit that an attractive brick veneer could be applied to the fire station inexpensively and make it more attractive.
With a million-dollar grant from the state secured by state Rep. Paul Mark set to expire by 2023, the town is under the gun to produce a design, a plan and a price estimate. “It feels like we’re back at square zero,” Shedd said. By now, however, they are old hands at working with architects and getting estimates, so this long and winding road should be all downhill from now on.