By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The town of Princeton and the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad agreed in writing to the outlines of a deal that will end with the squad getting a new headquarters on municipal land on Valley Road.
The memorandum contains the conditions that both sides agreed to meet for a project that officials don’t know the exact cost of yet, although it is estimated around $6 million.
PFARS would leave its antiquated headquarters on North Harrison Street to relocate to Valley Road on land that used to be the home of the former township Public Works Department. The town also agreed to finance a still undetermined portion of the project, knock down the building that is there now and do the environmental clean up.
In turn, the town would acquire the headquarters property and two other parcels the squad owns on Clearview Avenue. Mayor Liz Lempert said last week that the town has not decided what to do with them, but she listed two options. One is to turn them into affordable housing, while another is to sell them.
”I’m sure there would be other ideas, too, but those would be the top two,” she told reporters at her press conference on April 28.
The land swap would count as credit for the squad toward the overall project. The town said the three PFARS parcels are worth about $1.5 million based on an appraisal.
Mayor Lempert said the squad needed the memorandum of understanding to have the “assurance” that it can use the Valley Road location, so that it can get architectural drawings done. The two sides plan to enter into a 99-year-lease.
”But until they have plans drawn up, nobody knows really what the expense will be,” she said.
The squad plans to raise money to pay for the new building. Squad president Mark Freda said the squad would hire a professional fundraiser. “We’re hoping that the community gets behind this fund drive,” Mr. Freda said Wednesday.
Princeton University has agreed to contribute $500,000 toward the headquarters.
Town officials have rejected comparisons between the new headquarters and the Community Park Pool, in which an outside group pledged to raise $1 million toward the pool but raised about half that goal.
”So people were giving towards a project that was going to be built already,” town Administrator Robert W. Bruschi said last week of the pool. “So from a marketing standpoint, that’s a tougher sell.”
On the other hand, Mr. Bruschi said the headquarters project would be “contingent” upon fundraising being lined up.
”We’re going to wait until we’re comfortable that they can make whatever their payment is,” Mr. Bruschi said. “There’s a go and a no go date in this project that will be based upon where they are with their fundraising and we are comfortable that whatever they raise, they can afford to pay back.”
The roughly 90-member squad has been around for 75 years. In 2013, PFARS responded to about 2,800 service calls, Mr. Freda said.
