ANDOVER — A group of residents is calling the town to conduct more analysis on the recommended locations for a new Ballardvale fire substation.
The Ballardvale Fire Station Building Committee is currently considering two locations: The South Elementary School’s baseball field on the corner of Andover and Woburn streets and a private lot at 270 Andover St., across the street from the field.
Both sites have been met with controversy by residents in the area, and several are asking town officials to go back to the drawing board to come up with additional options.
Winterberry Lane resident Joel Mittleman said the organized group of about 13 residents agrees that a new fire station needs to be built, but doesn’t agree with the recommendations on where it should be placed.
“We’re trying to help that process,” Mittleman said. “But there are other things that are important to us, including the schools, the quality of life, our children, maintaining the character of our neighborhoods.”
Mittleman said a study conducted by Manitou Inc. in 2007, which provided the town options on where to relocate the Ballardvale and West fire stations, is dated and appears to have been rushed.
He said the study calls for moving both Ballardvale and West fire stations, but the current recommendation is to move one.
“(Moving) two fire stations is what is the recommendation is,” Mittleman said. “If you move one, that changes everything.”
Resident Jack Mcdonnell, who is also a member of the town’s Planning Board, said moving the Ballardvale Fire Station to South School will not improve response times unless the West Station is also moved.
“I believe the study is fundamentally flawed if a decision isn’t made on the West Fire Station,” Mcdonnell said. “It is simply a reallocation of response times, not an improvement.”
Charles Jennings, who authored the Manitou study, disagreed during a recent public forum, which included members of the Board of Selectmen and School Committee. The study did recommend moving both stations, he said.
“It was not our implication that they need to be done simultaneously, nor was it our implication that you couldn’t move one without having to move the other,” Jennings said. “It is not realistic for most communities to move two of three fire stations at the very same time.”
In terms of response times, moving the Ballardvale Station to the corner of Andover and Woburn streets would be a net increase, he said.
“When we are looking at coverage, we are looking not only to cover the map but we are looking at the ability to serve actual calls per service,” Jennings said. “So where there is a concentrated demand for service you want to have your resources closer to there because you are going to have shorter response times for a larger number of calls.”
Building committee Chairman Dan Casper said the station must be located in a populated area.
Even though it was completed in 2007, Jennings said that the study is still valid.
“I don’t think that you need to go back and do a new study,” Jennings said. “I think the conclusions that we reached in 2007 are still solid today.”
Glenwood Road resident Lydia Cardin brought up a number of issues during the forum, including traffic, noise from the fire engines and educational distractions.
“There are really no benefits to the school, yet the costs are many,” Cardin said. “There is no upside to allowing a fire station next to a school. There are too many risks, uncertainties and sacrifices”
Jennings said the design of the facility, along with other mitigation efforts, could reduce concerns over noise and distractions. “I don’t see a huge added burden in terms of additional exposure to noise,” Jennings said.
Others questioned the safety of placing a fire station next to an elementary school.
“We put our children in danger every single day just walking down the street, or walking out of the school, being abducted, all sorts of different things,” Ballardvale Road resident Neil Cashman told the School Committee. “If you want to add to that danger every single day, then put a fire station on a school ground.”
Fire Chief Michael Mansfield said the National Fire protection Association doesn’t have such information on this because “it happens so few times, if at all, that they don’t even track that type of data.”
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