HUDSON – A report has indicated that Fire Station 1 on Washington Street is in fair to good condition for a building its age.
The Select Board heard from Matt Tripi of Tripi Engineering Services about the current structural integrity of Fire Station 1, which was built in 1895-1896, at its Dec. 2 meeting.
Tripi said that prior to being able to do any alteration to the station, the Hudson Fire Department wanted to get an understanding of the structural condition of the building, including the area around the building and the “skin and bones” of it.
“It’s kind of a high-level look focused predominately on the structure of the building,” he said.
Tripi said the building has some issues and needs maintenance. He said there are also “quirky things that need to be addressed,” like steel construction done in the interior to accommodate trucks. He said the quirky issues would be relatively inexpensive to fix.
Tripi said the building can be maintained as it is, but changing it may be a challenge.
“In general, the building is OK as it sits, but if you’re intending to do alterations, then you’ll hit code limits and other limits pretty quickly,” he said.
In the basement, the mortar has seen deterioration and needs to be repointed with new mortar at the joints between bricks. There is corrosion at the anchors at the fire escape in the back of the building, but he said it could be addressed by cleaning and painting. In terms of the façade of the building, the lintels around the windows were one of the main sources of structural problems, Tripi said.
One example he gave was brick bearing on a wood lintel and causing the wood to shrink. Tripi said a gap forms, and a step crack is created at the window lintel’s head. The general report seemed to be that there should be some repointing work done for the mortar in the building.
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Tripi said he would focus on the façade of the building, especially the front in terms of efflorescence and cracking.
He said the roofing structure is supported down through the building, and if any significant changes were made, there would be hurdles with working on the second floor and roof framing.
Select Board Chair Scott Duplisea said the report was the first step in assessing the building’s structural condition. Although he was “not glad to hear” that a lot of work was needed, he did like that the building itself was structurally sound.
“We’ve got to start here, and then figure out what the next step is,” said Duplisea.
Executive Assistant Tom Gregory said he was working with Fire Chief Jamie Desautels on a funding plan for Fire Station 1 for repairs, with the potential to use the balance left over from the fire headquarters repair project.
“Those bids came in significantly lower than the engineer’s estimate. So I expect that we’ll have a pretty good, … pretty decent amount left over,” said Gregory.
Transfer Station
The Select Board authorized the Board of Health to hire special counsel regarding the B-P Transfer Station expansion project.
Director of Public and Community Health Lauren Antonelli and Board of Health Vice Chair Matt Gallen addressed the request during the meeting. Gallen said that as the board is new to the process of transfer station expansion, the board decided to go down the path of hiring special counsel as a third-party reviewer.
Gallen said, “We wanted to make sure we have the support.”
Duplisea said that Antonelli went through the Select Board and Gregory for the request.
Gregory said that the B-P Transfer Station will have to go through many permitting hurdles to expand the facility, with the first being a minor modification to the site assignment, which falls under the purview of the Board of Health.
The current site was assigned in the 1980s, and the minor modification in question is a request by B-P Trucking to the Board of Health to increase the daily tonnage the new facility will be able to handle. As it is not a routine request, Gregory reached out to town counsel because the town is a co-applicant with B-P Trucking.
Gregory said he was concerned about there being a conflict of interest. He said there appears to be none after speaking with town counsel, but the Board of Health would be more comfortable with a special counsel. He advised Antonelli to make the request for counsel to the Select Board.
Duplisea said they were better off to be careful and to consider special counsel for the Board of Health. After a question about whether a vote by the Board of Health was needed, he clarified that it was not necessary for the Board of Health to vote on asking the Select Board for the request.
He said, “They can simply make the request through the executive assistant.”
