East Hampton firehouse committee members pick new Company 1
Members would keep Company 2 as it is. The consultant's estimates run from $7.1 million to $25.9 million; the minutes give no price for the option members chose.
Members of the town's Firehouse Site and Development Committee decided Oct. 5 to go with a new building for Company 1 and keep Company 2 in service as it is, the committee's minutes say. Company 1, on Barton Hill, handles 92 percent of the department's calls by the fire chief's count.
The town's consultant priced four options from $7.1 million, for a new Company 2 alone, to $25.9 million for new construction for both Company 1 and Company 2. The Town Council makes the final decision, and a new fire station is competing for the same capital money as $15 million to $20 million in road repairs.
They chose that direction after the consultant, Silver Petrucelli + Associates, presented its estimates. The minutes record no vote on it, give no price for the option members chose and do not say where a new Company 1 would go. Members split up the writing of a recommendation to the council, and the minutes say the drafts could be voted on at the next meeting.
The next meeting was scheduled for Monday, Nov. 2, with "Final Recommendations" on the agenda. As of Tuesday the town had posted no minutes or video of it, so whether the committee acted, and what it decided, is not yet known. At their April 6 meeting, members wanted to see capital improvement by late 2026 to get it into the capital budget for the next budget season, the minutes of that meeting say.
The consultant, which the committee recommended in March and the council approved, gave these estimates Oct. 5, as the minutes record them:
- A new Company 2 building of 7,000 square feet: $7.1 million, rising to $8.4 million after three years and $10 million after five.
- Companies 1 and 2 combined in one building: about $21.5 million.
- A new Company 2, with Company 1 kept and renovated: $24 million.
- New construction for both Company 1 and Company 2: $25.9 million.
The minutes note that today's costs may not be what the work costs when it is built.
The minutes record no reason for the choice beyond that it made "the most sense to the members." Earlier in the meeting, the minutes record that more than 90 percent of the department's calls come out of Company 1; Fire Chief Robert Rainville, a committee member, had put it at 92 percent in September, according to the September minutes. Members already bring their dirty gear to Company 1 to be cleaned, and "Company 1 needs to be the headquarters for both buildings," the minutes say.
Company 1's "bones" are decent and its facade is what needs replacing, the minutes say, and the consultant said the easier option would be to rebuild Company 2 and renovate Company 1. Parking and an addition on top of Company 1 were discussed, but someone at the meeting called another addition "a short-term fix for a long-term problem," in the minutes' words.
The building members would keep has problems of its own. In April the consultant said Company 2 would be listed as the building needing the most attention, and the minutes of that meeting say its concrete slab and the front of the building were sinking. In July the consultant recommended soil borings or similar testing before the town makes a major investment there, according to that meeting's minutes.
Members considered a single, centrally located building for both companies a good option and "the most feasible for the town," the Oct. 5 minutes say, before choosing the new Company 1. The Company 1 and Company 2 lots are each 0.67 acres, "on the small side" for a fire station, and a 10-acre parcel in Cobalt would be big enough but is not central. One suggestion was to tell residents the committee is looking for property in the Village Center or elsewhere central.
Rainville volunteered on Oct. 5 to draft the recommendation and send it to the council. The chairman, Town Council member Richard Knotek, volunteered to write an introduction and a summary of the consultant's reports, which is to mention Company 3, the town's third station. Mary Ann Dostaler, a public member of the committee, volunteered to write a synopsis of the buildings' condition, with estimated renovation costs and what to do in the short term. Members also suggested the consultant raise the square footage in its estimate to 7,500 to add decontamination rooms, where firefighters clean contaminated gear.
At the Board of Finance on Oct. 19, member James Radavich, who also sits on the firehouse committee, reported on the Board of Fire Commissioners. The finance board's minutes summarize his report: the "evaluation committee" was completing its reports, and "expectations are that new is going to be the only option." Under "New Firehouse Discussions," the fire commissioners' minutes from the same night say a response to the Town Council is being drafted.