With Permission
In a unanimous bi-partisan vote the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) has approved construction of a new $1.5 million firehouse in Indian Neck to replace the old Company 9 firehouse, now 92 years old and in need of expansion.
With Permission
The current two-story firehouse, which is about 2,000 square feet, will be demolished soon. Construction is expected to begin in mid-June and be completed by year’s end.
With Permission
The new firehouse will serve residents in the Fifth and Seventh RTM Districts. RTM member Tom Brockett, who represents the Seventh District, was delighted with the new project, saying, “it will provide for the future on a variety of fronts.”
He said that right now “there are 14 volunteer firefighters and who operate out of Indian Neck, which covers the Pawson Park, Hotchkiss Grove, and Pine Orchard sections of the town,” he said.
Brockett told some of his colleagues at a recent meeting that the new firehouse will be equipped so that in the future “if the town loses volunteer firefighters, as they have in some other districts, it will be equipped to put other firefighters down there and maybe an ambulance in the future.”
A Firehouse in a Flood Zone
One drawback, however, is that the firehouse is located in a flood zone. The decision to keep the firehouse at its current site was due largely to the fact that the property is owned by the town. Flooding is an issue from time to time, Fire Chief Tom Mahoney told the RTM at its last meeting.
To deal with the flooding issues, utilities will be raised above the flood plain and a generator will be provided to keep power on in the event of storms.
“These are concerns,” Mahoney told the RTM. “We looked to see if there was a better location. We found this was the best location that the town owns,” he said. “The area does tend to become an island,” he said of the nature of the land and the rising seas. “In extreme high tide or other weather conditions, like Hurricane Irene we had to move apparatus out…. If there was a better way we certainly would have done it.” The new firehouse will be designed to meet the requirements of floodplain and wind speeds.
With Permission
In expanding the size of the current firehouse, which is small, other problems will be solved. For example, the current firehouse can barely contain large 21st century fire trucks.
At the recent RTM meeting, a number of residents spoke out against the new firehouse. The firehouse was originally built in 1926 on land that neighbors said is now used as a park for kids. Several neighbors voiced concern that their “park,” the only one in a dense area of houses, would now be gone.
However, the “park” is owned by the fire station and the town. So what it came down to was a choice between a fully functioning firehouse and green space where kids could play. In the end, safety won out.
George Platt, a neighbor, called the proposed new firehouse “too big… We are going to lose that park. This is a major concern for our area. We would like to keep the green area,” he said.
With Permission
“Where are kids going to play? There will no longer be a neighborhood park,” said Platt’s wife, Debbie. But in the end, the “park” gave way to the firehouse and the RTM voted unanimously to move ahead with the project.
In 2016, State Sen. Ted Kennedy, Jr. (D‑12) and State Reps. Lonnie Reed and Sean Scanlon were instrumental in helping the town secure a $500,000 Small Town Economic Program (STEAP) grant to help fund the construction of the firehouse. In February, the Board of Finance approved the $1.5 million project and recommended the RTM do so as well.
The RTM did so, but not before two of its members weighed in. Architect Peter Hentchel (D‑2, Stony Creek) noted that this was the third town project to be built without incorporating energy conservation principles. The other two projects, much larger in scope, are the Walsh Intermediate School renovation and the Community House renovation.
Peter Jackson (D‑3, Short Beach), also an architect, said, “It seems like we could be conserving energy better.”
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I trust that the Building Committee has designed the new fire station to rise above flooding to a ten-foot elevation, the height of storm surge that Branford experienced in both Hurricane Irene and Storm Sandy. However, sea level is rising, and the rate is increasing by almost 3% a year. A recent report by the CT Institute for Resilience and Coastal Adaptation (CIRCA) advises towns to plan for sea level to increase by as much as twenty inches by 2050, well within the life of the new firehouse. A storm like Sandy will cause flooding to almost twelve feet. And it's not going to stop then. The increasing sea level is driven by the atmosphere retaining increasing amounts of heat as atmospheric levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases continue to increase. Once the CO2 is in the air, it will be very difficult and expensive to reduce the level and it will continue to trap heat, warming water and melting ice for centuries. By failing to incorporate the maximum amount of energy efficiency and renewable energy systems in its building projects, the Town continues to be part of the problem. The CIRCA report makes it clear that what we do today, whether that is reducing our collective greenhouse gas production or continuing to increase greenhouse gas levels, will effect the level of flooding our town experiences for many, many decades.