SOUTH RIVER — Plans for a new firehouse are moving forward, but some hurdles remain to be cleared before a shovel goes in the ground.
The Borough Council voted April 8 to designate Robert Mitchell of Mitchell Associates Architects of Voorheesville, N.Y. as the architect of the firehouse plan.
Borough Engineer Bruce Koch suggested the council take this action so that a footprint of the firehouse site could be presented to the Middlesex County Planning Board. The plan needs county approval because the firehouse would be located on Jackson Street, a county road, Councilman Peter Guindi said after the meeting.
Guindi said the borough is on track to purchase the Knights of Columbus building for $450,000. The borough is also looking to purchase the adjacent gas station site, but its owner has yet to agree to the transaction. The gas station property would add needed parking spaces to the firehouse project and ensure that the building could remain a onestory structure, Guindi said.
Mitchell, who previously served as the architect for an earlier, controversial proposal to build the firehouse on the former Elks site on Main Street, said last May that the Knights of Columbus was a viable alternative for the project. The Elks property remains for sale.
If the plans remain on course, construction of the new firehouse could begin next year, Guindi said. The cost of the firehouse remains undetermined, he said, but the borough has set money aside for property acquisition and demolition. He said he believes some people are under the impression that the new firehouse would cost upwards of $10 million, which he said is “absolutely not true.”
Borough officials have to take the long view of this effort, he said, as the current George Street firehouse, which is more than 100 years old and not up to code, is so rundown that it simply cannot be repaired. Guindi said he hopes part of the current council’s legacy is facilitating the building of a new firehouse that can last 100 years.
Though superstorm Sandy has affected the borough and its residents financially, hampering efforts to fund the project, Guindi said officials cannot lose sight of its necessity.
“Sandy hurt the people financially,” he said, adding that the borough has lost property tax ratables and electric customers, costing the town revenue, and he doesn’t want to hurt taxpayers more. “The question is, ‘Are they going to come back?’” he said.
Discussions on the firehouse will continue at the next Borough Council meeting, which is set for April 22. Guindi said he hopes to have Mitchell present for the discussion.