May 23--HYANNIS -- Weary of cramped quarters, overflowing offices and dangerous traffic patterns, fire district officials are proposing a new station they say could meet the town's needs for generations to come.
The proposed 51,493-square-foot building would cost $25.5 million to build, according to initial cost projections provided by the project manager and architect.
The financial figures are preliminary, said project manager Jim Byrne of Construction Monitoring Services Inc. of Marlboro.
Next, it will be up to Hyannis Fire District residents to decide whether to replace the current 1965 station at the corner of Stevens Street and High School Road and at what cost.
A large, modern building would be capable of serving Hyannis for the next 50 to 100 years, according to district officials.
"The community, of course, has grown dramatically," said Fire Commissioner Richard Gallagher, chairman of the district's building committee.
The year-round district population of 17,000 explodes to three times that size in the summer and is served entirely out of the single station, unlike in other districts and communities where there are multiple stations, Gallagher said.
Calls have jumped from 500 in 1965 to more than 6,000 each year, Fire Chief Harold Brunelle said.
The goal of a new station is to provide firefighters with elbow room to do their job and to get all of the department's equipment under one roof, Brunelle said.
The proposed station includes administrative, training and living space, and much-needed storage, said Byrne and project architect Todd Costa of Foxboro-based Kaestle Boos Associates Inc.
It would also have a specially designed washing machine to remove contaminants from uniforms, a fitness center and a mechanic's bay, Costa said.
The main section of the building would be three stories. The tower would provide space to hang hoses and to train firefighters in scaling heights, Byrne said.
The lobby would include a space for an antique firetruck and be a showcase for the village, Brunelle said.
The third floor's administrative offices include space for fire prevention officers to meet property owners and do site plan reviews.
"We're trying to get them space to meet with their clients in a professional way," Brunelle said.
The proposed layout and size is a far cry from conditions in the existing building, which Brunelle said violates modern fire codes.
In the current station, ambulances and fire engines are squeezed in, sometimes with only inches to spare. Equipment and uniforms are sandwiched between apparatus, and files are stacked high in offices.
Bunks -- for male and female firefighters -- are shoehorned into one room with only lockers separating the beds.
Outside the building, parking is difficult and the exit for fire engines is too close to a nearby intersection, Brunelle said.
The proposed building's parking and driveway pattern are meant to improve safety, he said.
"They're really understanding that they're a gateway," growth management director Jo Anne Miller Buntich said Wednesday about the station's location in a heavily trafficked area of town.
Buntich said the facility is obviously going to be big.
"There's going to be a lot of conversation going forward," she said.
Brunelle and Gallagher said they will hold meetings and open houses at the current station over the next several months.
The building committee will hold its next meeting in two weeks and begin examining the plans to see if savings can be found, Gallagher said. All of the committee's meetings are open to the public.
"They're going to have an interesting time trying to get that through," said William Cronin, president of the Greater Hyannis Civic Association.
He chuckled when told how much the new facility could cost.
Joe Chilli, a member of the civic association as well as the district's building committee, said he had been assured that the numbers presented by the project manager are not final.
"They've presented that but it's not carved in granite," he said. "We have to satisfy our own curiosity that it's within reason."
The building committee will make a recommendation to the fire commissioners who must then approve the plan and take it before district voters, perhaps as early as August, Gallagher said.
Copyright 2013 - Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
