Borough Zoners Slated To Consider Firehouse Proposal

The Borough Zoning Commission (BZC) is scheduled to meet next week to consider and possibly act on an application from Newtown Hook & ladder Company, No. 1, to construct a firehouse at 12 Sugar Street (Route 302).

The session is slated for 7:15 pm on Monday, January 24, at Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street. The BZC is scheduled to meet in the Old Courtroom in that building.

The meeting had been slated for January 12, but was postponed due to inclement weather.

The BZC public hearing on the firehouse proposal concluded on December 13.

The volunteer fire company wants to build an 11,414-square-foot firehouse to replace the aging, deteriorated red-brick town-owned firehouse now used by the firefighters at 45 Main Street, behind Edmond Town Hall.

On December 8, the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) unanimously rejected a required environmental protection permit for the project. Generally, IWC members decided that the firehouse project would pose significant adverse effects on wetlands and watercourses. The project would require the earthen filing of about 5,000 square feet of wetlands, without significant mitigation on the site to compensate for that loss of wetlands, IWC members found.

The firehouse application has drawn opposition from nearby residents.

Those who have spoken against constructing a firehouse at 12 Sugar Street generally say that a fire station is an inappropriate land use that would be out of character with the residential area, the presence of such a facility would damage property values in the area, the presence of a fire station would damage the area’s appearance, and that firehouse-related traffic would worsen traffic congestion that occurs in the area during daily commuter rush periods, among other complaints.

The firefighters, however, maintain that 12 Sugar Street is a good place to build a new firehouse because it would be at a central location within the Hook & Ladder fire district.

Under the development proposal, the Borough of Newtown Land Trust, Inc, and the R. Scudder Smith Family Partnership would donate land for the firehouse project. Mr Smith is the owner/publisher of The Newtown Bee. Approximately one acre of the wet 9.4-acre site would be developed with a firehouse and related facilities.