P&Z Endorses Hook & Ladder Firehouse Proposal

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have unanimously endorsed the proposal by Newtown Hook & Ladder Company, Inc, #1, to build a new firehouse at 12 Sugar Street (Route 302).

Following discussion at an October 7 session, P&Z members made that endorsement to the Borough Zoning Commission (BZC) on the condition that the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) approves a wetlands/watercourses protection permit which Hook & Ladder is seeking for the project.

The IWC was scheduled to resume its public hearing on the wetlands application on October 13. The fire company has revised its wetlands/watercourses protection proposal in response to comments made at an initial IWC hearing held on September 22.

The borough’s zoners have scheduled a public hearing on the site development application for the firehouse project. That hearing is slated for 7:15 pm on Tuesday, October 19, at Town Hall South, 3 Main Street.

On October 7, P&Z members heard a lengthy presentation from Hook & Ladder representatives on the need for a new firehouse to replace the existing deteriorated town-owned firehouse at 45 Main Street that Hook & Ladder uses as its fire station.

The town has five volunteer five companies — Hook & Ladder, Dodgingtown, Hawleyville, Sandy Hook, and Botsford. Unlike the four other fire companies, which own their respective firehouses, Hook & Ladder is based in a town-owned building.

The BZC referred the firehouse application to P&Z for its advice and comment because the P&Z serves as the borough’s planning agency. The P&Z only addresses the “planning” aspects of such applications, leaving the “zoning” aspects of such proposals to the BZC for its review and action.

P&Z members’ concerns about having a firehouse at 12 Sugar Street largely focused on the traffic aspects of the site. P&Z members asked whether that location for a fire station would pose problems for the fire company when it responds to fire calls requiring travel eastward on the sometimes-congested Sugar Street toward the major intersection of Sugar Street, Main Street, Glover Avenue, and South Main Street.

Hook & Ladder representatives explained the technical measures that would be taken to expedite fire vehicle travel in that area, when necessary, thus apparently resolving P&Z members’ concerns.

Presentation

Rob Manna, a member of Hook & Ladder’s building committee, told P&Z members that the 12 Sugar Street location proposed for a 11,414-square-foot firehouse makes both geographic and economic sense for the fire company. A firehouse would be built on a one-acre section of the 9.4-acre site.

The property is on the north side of Sugar Street, northwest of Sugar Street’s intersection with Elm Drive. The site lies feet west of the major intersection of Sugar Street, Main Street, Glover Avenue, and South Main Street.

Under the proposal, the Borough of Newtown Land Trust, Inc, and the R. Scudder Smith Family Partnership would donate land for the firehouse project. The property has extensive wetlands. The undeveloped site is lightly wooded and contains heavy undergrowth.

The fire company has explored many other sites, which have proved impractical due to the high costs involved, Mr Manna said. Renovating the existing deteriorated firehouse for its continued use has proven to be an unworkable proposition, he said.

Also, the town-owned Fairfield Hills property would not be a practical location for a new firehouse due to its noncentral location in the Hook & Ladder fire district, he added.

Attorney Christopher Smith, representing the volunteer fire company, told P&Z members that the firehouse construction proposal is in harmony with the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development. That decennial advisory document provides the P&Z with guidance in its land use decisionmaking.

Hook & Ladder Fire Chief Jason Rivera described the fire company’s operations to P&Z members. The fire company travels to approximately 600 calls per year, including calls in which firefighters provide emergency medical aid, he said.

Chief Rivera noted that a Sugar Street firehouse would be more centrally located in the Hook & Ladder fire district than the existing firehouse at 45 Main Street.

Kevin Cragin, chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners, told P&Z members that the fire board unanimously supports the Sugar Street firehouse proposal. Mr Cragin said that the Hook & Ladder fire facilities issue has been under discussion for 26 years, adding that plans for new facilities have repeatedly been thwarted.

The proposed firehouse would have exterior parking spaces for 21 vehicles.

Mr Manna told P&Z members that the building would not be available for rental purposes. He added that he expects that only 15 to 20 Hook & Ladder personnel would ever go to the building at any one time for fire calls or for training.

Christopher Smith said that the undeveloped land remaining at the site after a firehouse is built would be protected from future development by the placement of a conservation easement.

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean noted that the site is an environmentally sensitive one. An existing stream on the site already has been repositioned once in view of water problems that had been occurring at the nearby Town Hall South, she said.

Traffic Issues

Traffic engineer Michael Galante, representing Hook & Ladder, said the results of a traffic study indicate that the peak travel hour on Sugar Street near the site runs from 5 to 6 pm. Sugar Street in that area carries 12,000 vehicles daily, and the nearby Main Street carries 18,000 vehicles daily, he said.

Mr Galante recommended that the firehouse project include an electronic device to allow firefighters to control the functioning of the traffic signal at the nearby intersection of Sugar Street, Main Street, Glover Avenue, and South Main Street.

P&Z member Robert Mulholland raised questions about the lack of space which exists on Sugar Street for motorists to pull over their vehicles after they hear an approaching emergency siren.

P&Z member Daniel Cruson agreed with that observation.

P&Z member Dennis Bloom said that the applicant had done a good job of traffic planning in terms of the location of the planned firehouse.

Christopher Smith then urged the P&Z to endorse the firehouse proposal to the BZC. “It’s extremely important for us to have that favorable recommendation,” he said.

The seven P&Z members present at the session then individually endorsed the firehouse proposal.

No public opposition to the firehouse proposal occurred at the October 7 P&Z session. Some nearby property owners oppose the project, charging that the residential area is the wrong location for a firehouse.

In August 2009, the Borough Zoning Board of Appeals (BZBA) unanimously rejected the fire company’s request for a zoning variance for 12 Sugar Street for firehouse construction. That action came amid stiff neighborhood opposition to granting a zoning variance to allow the fire company to build a firehouse closer to the street than the zoning regulations would normally allow.

In their motion to reject the requested zoning variance, BZBA members cited three basic reasons for turning down the application. They decided that a firehouse would not be in harmony with the general character of the residential neighborhood; the presence of a firehouse and its related fire vehicle traffic would create traffic hazards in the congested area; and that a firehouse’s presence would damage property values in the neighborhood.

Fire officials have asked that the town provide $1.5 million the toward the overall cost of a $2.6 million firehouse. Through the use of “value engineering” the fire company is seeking to hold the cost of the project down to $2.2 million or $2.3 million.

The firehouse project has been placed on the town’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Under that spending plan, the town would contribute $1.5 million toward the construction project. The funding would be spread across three fiscal years, through three $500,000 increments.