GREENFIELD — The city expects to have the $1.9 million temporary fire station built in the municipal parking lot on Hope Street and ready to be occupied by firefighters by the end of June.
Architect Dennis Ross of Pacheco Ross Architects reported Monday evening that contracts are ready to be signed and the project is moving forward. He said the next step is for the city to put out a request for proposals from manufacturers who will provide the “bunker” that will contain offices and sleeping quarters and two bays that will house vehicles.
Ross and Owner Project Manager Neil Joyce said the city might very well hire two different companies — one for the bunker and the other for the bays — because each structure is very different and requires specialized skills.
“We’ll be following all state guidelines for all of the structures,” Ross said.
Joyce said the goal is to start construction in the spring and finish in early summer. He said contracts and drawings should be done within the next two weeks, and the city will put out the request for proposals, requiring all of them to be received by Jan. 21. It will take one to two weeks for the proposals to be reviewed and vetted and then ranked by their technical aspects and by price, Joyce said.
A committee created by the Fire Station Building Committee will do the reviewing and vetting, and will make a recommendation no later than its first meeting in February, said Joyce, who is one of the subcommittee’s members. That recommendation will be brought to the full committee.
“We’d like the modular (buildings) to be delivered as early in April as possible so they can be occupied by the end of June,” he said.
Mayor Roxann Wedegartner asked to get the schedule for the temporary fire station project in writing, and said she is “a little concerned” that sleeping quarters, office space and apparatus buildings must all be finished around the same time. Joyce assured her that would happen.
Wedegartner said she doesn’t want any delays on the temporary fire station because it would interfere with the Greenfield Public Library project, which needs to break ground by late April to receive funding from the state, although the city could request an extension. Ed Berlin, co-chair of the Greenfield Public Library’s Building Committee, has said previously that there’s initial site work involved that wouldn’t require immediate demolition of the fire station in April.
Joyce said if the materials for the temporary fire station are delivered in early April, site preparation will begin shortly after.
“We are going to make every effort to hold to the schedule,” Joyce said. “We need to nail down the contractors so we can do that.”
The committee that will review all proposals consists of subcommittee Chair David Moscaritolo, Fire Chief Robert Strahan, Wedegartner, Joyce, Ross, Greenfield Procurement Officer Laura Phelps, firefighter Peter McIver and Jean Wall.
Strahan told Ross and Joyce that his department’s firefighters are concerned there aren’t any provisions in the design of the temporary fire station for a bathroom in the bays. He said firefighters would also like a covered walkway between bays.
Ross said the request for a bathroom will be taken into consideration, and that there are plans for a covered walkway between buildings.
Ross and Joyce advised that the Fire Department should also let architects know what type of specialized wiring and WiFi it will need and how much room it will need for them before a request for proposals is released.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.