Edgartown’s fire station could be getting a hot new look.
In a select board meeting this week, fire chief Alex Schaeffer shared several renderings for a proposed new fire station building, which would include a new community training space and expanded parking.
After a 2019 feasibility study found that the current station was in need of a major overhaul, the Edgartown fire station building committee has been brainstorming what those changes could look like since June. The committee determined that building a new station at the current location on Peases Point Way would be cheaper than renovating the existing one.
The proposed plans would give the new station a footprint of 14,000 square feet, double its current size. Most of that square footage would be the shared community space, which would be open to community CPR classes, first aid trainings and municipal meetings as needed.
“They’re the kind of things we’ve done in the past when we had the space,” Chief Schaeffer told the Gazette, adding that much of the station’s prior demonstration space had been turned into sleeping barracks.
The new building would also include an auxiliary bay behind the main building for additional storage and a small parking lot to be shared between the elementary school and the station. The auxiliary bay would allow the station to continue to function during the construction process.
The committee is still working out certain planning details, Chief Schaeffer said, so it’s possible they may add additional parking in the future. Other than that, the station retains key similarities, particularly in its historic look and feel after select board members raised questions of aesthetics in a December meeting.
“We want to make sure it best fits the character of the town,” Chief Schaeffer said.
The project is estimated to cost $21.5 million, with funding going up to a vote in town meeting this spring. If approved, construction would likely take place in a year, town administrator James Hagerty said.
Just next door, the police department has hired a new officer. The select board approved the appointment of John Dacey, a former patrolman at the Falmouth Police Department, at Chief Bruce McNamee’s recommendation.
“By all accounts from what I’ve heard…this is a top-notch candidate that we’re lucky to get,” Chief McNamee told the select board.
Before working in Falmouth, Mr. Dacey spent five years in the Coast Guard.
“You sound like you’ll fit right in,” select board chair Margaret Serpa said.
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