Town Meeting to consider public safety complex
By Catie Foertsch Community Reporter

Westborough - The Municipal Building Committee (MBC) came before the selectmen Oct. 9 to give an update on the progress on eff orts to build a fire station or public safety complex on Milk Street.

The MBC showed preliminary plans for a 54,000-square-foot building that would house both the Police and Fire departments, and told the selectmen it would ask Town Meeting for $1.7 million for the next phase, which would include hiring an architect to develop final plans, conducting a traffic study, and hiring a project manager.

One of the big questions the MBC has been charged with answering is whether a building for both Police and Fire departments could fit on the Milk Street property, or whether the new building would house a fire station alone. The Milk Street property includes the current fire station and the adjacent Vee Arc building, which will soon be demolished.

MBC member John Arnold told the selectmen that with the help of Jacunski Humes Architects LLC, preliminary plans had been developed that showed there was room on the property to house both departments and to supply ample parking. A big part of making everything fit on the site, Arnold said, was planning a building with three stories, which would leave room for 76 parking spaces.

Two traffic lights would stop traffic on Milk when fire trucks and ambulances needed to enter traffic. Those lights would be paid for by the developers of Bay State Commons.

The plans presented to the selectmen showed parking where the current fire station sits, with the new building mostly on the Vee Arc site. This would allow the fire station to continue operations during construction of the new building.

One big advantage of the complex, MBC members said, was that it would provide enough space for the Police and Fire departments for at least 30 years. At that point, the town would be built out and neither department would need to grow. Another advantage would be that the centrally-located complex would eliminate any future need for satellite fire stations, which would require significant Fire Department budget increases.

MBC member Dexter Blois told the selectmen that if Town Meeting approved funds for the complex's design, the MBC would come back to a 2008 Fall Town Meeting to ask for construction funds. The design process will take a year, Blois said, because of the state's laws that regulate construction of public buildings. Those laws require that contractors and subcontractors be pre-qualified by the town, and so the MBC will have to issue requests for qualification to 17 trade groups. The town would have to qualify at least three representatives from each of the 17 groups before it could request bids for the project.

When complete, the public safety complex would include separate facilities for the Police and Fire departments, as well as several common areas, including a dispatch area, interview and training rooms, exercise facilities, and men's and women's locker rooms. The complex would also include public meeting rooms.

Town Meeting will be held Monday Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. in the Westborough High School auditorium.