SOUTH RIVER — Fire Chief Matthew Magaw challenged recent rumors and innuendoes regarding the proposed location of a firehouse on Main Street at this week’s Borough Council meeting.
Magaw attended Monday’s meeting with several former fire chiefs to voice their concerns about the matter.
“We live in a great country and everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I believe every opinion counts,” Magaw said. “But when it starts degrading my 75 men and women, it upsets me.”
Magaw and the former fire chiefs said they were taking issue with an unsigned letter distributed to Main Street residents, claiming that the presence of the firehouse would result in “raging parties,” lights and sirens seen and heard around the clock, more traffic, lower property values for nearby residents, and more.
Resident Brian Fenyak admitted during the meeting that he was the author of the letter. He has previously said that he and his neighbors have nothing against the firefighters and what they do; however, he said they believe the council is at fault for not doing what is best for the residents and public safety.
Magaw and the former fire chiefs said the contents in the letter were completely false.
“There is no fire hall for these raging parties,” said former Fire Chief Tony Ciulla. “As for added traffic, Main Street is a county road, so there is already traffic on the road. We did our homework with this when we hired an engineer; we did this to help the residents.”
Ciulla added that according to statistics from their insurance company, they respond on average to 1.36 fire calls per day.
Over the last several weeks, dozens of residents who live near the proposed location of the new firehouse on Main Street have pleaded with borough officials to look elsewhere. While they supported the idea of building a new firehouse, they said the location was too close to their homes. They told the council the firehouse would devalue their homes and take away from the small-town feel they have come to love.
Discussions to build a new firehouse that will replace the one on George Street date to 2009. Officials have said the existing firehouse, which is more than 100 years old, is in much need of repair because of sinking floors, dilapidated conditions and inadequate space for the fire trucks.
In December 2010, the council voted to approve the purchase of the Elks property for $950,000 after months of negotiations between the borough administration and the Elks organization. The site was appraised for between $1.1 million and $1.2 million. The appraiser said he valued the property based on its best possible use, which is an office professional building.
Mayor Raymond T. Eppinger said the administration and the council resolved that the Elks property was the best place in the borough for the new firehouse. The mayor said Emmanuel Mesagna, a former chief architect and director of facilities for the New York City Fire Department, advised borough officials that, of all potential sites, the Elks property was the best site because of its central location and the fact that it is on a main thoroughfare.
“The renderings look like it fits on Main Street; it looks like a house, a big house,” said the mayor.
Magaw assured the residents that they, too, do not want a big box. Before anything is finalized, he said the residents will be able to look at and have a say over the finalized architect renderings.
The building committee has created a question-and-answer section regarding the proposed new firehouse that will be posted on the borough’s website at www.southrivernj.org.
In addition, the council voted in favor of an ordinance that amends the bond ordinance that will allow borough officials to move forward with hiring the architect for the proposed new facility.
“This just transfers the adequate funds from hard costs to soft costs,” said Business Administrator Andrew Salerno.
The borough received 18 architect proposals and conducted seven to eight interviews. They are down to three finalists.
“We found that we had enough for the projected cost of the architect in our hard costs, but the total estimated cost for the architect was $15,000 greater than what we had in the soft costs,” he said.
Salerno said the amendment merely adjusts the costs in the bond and does not incur any debt to the borough.
“We are reducing one side by $315,000 and increasing one side by $315,000,” he said.