Police Commission Chairman Paul Mangiafico said this week he is seeking to learn when the commission, in its role as the local traffic authority, will receive for review a formal traffic report from the Newtown Hook & Ladder Volunteer Fire Company on the fire company’s firehouse project planned for 12 Church Hill Road.

Mr Mangiafico told Police Commission members on January 6 that he sent an e-mail message to Rob Manna, who represents Hook & Ladder, in seeking to learn when the commission will receive the requested traffic report.

Mr Manna had not yet replied, Mr Mangiafico told commission members.

“We are waiting for it… I’ve heard no response,” Mr Mangiafico said.

“This is an open item,” he said, adding that he would place the matter on commission’s upcoming agendas until it is resolved.

At a December 16 Police Commission session, Mr Mangiafico was sharply critical of the 12 Church Hill Road location for a new firehouse.

At that meeting, commission members voted 3-to-1 to require the fire company to provide a formal traffic study to the commission for its review before the commission would make a recommendation to the Borough Zoning Commission (BZC) on the traffic aspects of the firehouse project.

On December 10, the BZC approved the fire company’s plans to construct an approximately 16,000-square-foot firehouse on a 3.16-acre site on the south side of Church Hill Road, across that street from Wendover Road. BZC members said then that a formal traffic study was not needed for the firehouse project.

The fire company had attempted to have the Police Commission place the traffic issue on its December 2 meeting agenda, but was unsuccessful, resulting in fire company members attending the December 16 Police Commission session on the firehouse traffic topic.

George Benson, the town director of planning, has told Police Commission members that he advised the fire company not to have traffic study done on the project because it was not necessary.

Mr Benson has noted that the BZC did not make its firehouse approval contingent upon a positive recommendation from the Police Commission.

Hook & Ladder uses a town-owned firehouse at 45 Main Street that has been deemed structurally unsound, prompting the fire company’s long-running pursuit for new quarters which it would own.