CHESHIRE, Conn. -- Plans to build a new regional firefighting training academy on state land off Jarvis Street was met with opposition from neighbors of the proposed facility.
Current plans don't call for the training center to be built until 2014, when $5 million to $7 million in state funding for it becomes available.
But some neighbors say they would prefer that it never be built.
"God bless you for what you do, but I don't want to see this from my porch," said John Parenteau, whose Lansdowne Lane home sits on a hillside overlooking the 10-acre parcel where the academy would be built. "This does nothing but bring down property value."
The Wolcott State Fire School was built 39 years ago on landfill and is falling apart, said Steve Veneziano, director of the facility that is run by the Waterbury Area Fire Chief's Association and serves 22 towns.
Some of the building's walls are collapsing, the roof is in need of repair and the basement fills with water because of drainage problems.
The new center will have a controlled-burn building where firefighters will train, Veneziano said. Because firefighters need to train on ladders, the building will be 42 feet high, he said.
"We're going to put the burn building as far away from the neighboring homes as possible," he added.
But neighbors say the topography of the property means it will be difficult to provide buffers to protect their properties' values. They noted they already are burdened by the neighboring state Department of Correction complex, which includes a firing range that causes noise problems for neighbors.
Officials with the Waterbury Area Fire Chief's Association promised to do what they can to address neighbors' concerns, even as they acknowledged that its plans are almost certain to move forward.
"We want to be good neighbors," said Jay Hershman, president of the organization and an assistant chief with the Cheshire Fire Department. "Some of us live here, too."
Copyright 2012 - New Haven Register, Conn.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
