A new firehouse for Bristol?

The city plans to investigate the possibility of building a new firehouse that could better serve its fast-growing southwestern corner.
Responding to a call from freshman city Councilor Ken Cockayne to set up a panel to probe the idea, Mayor Art Ward said, “We can set that up.”
Ward said the idea’s been kicked around for many years and with all the new houses in the Cedar Lake area of town, it’s probably time to take a look at it.
Fire Chief Jon Pose said that “a quick response time” is crucial when there’s an emergency so it would improve public safety for firefighters to be closer.
“It’s definitely a concern,” Ward said.
The city has flirted at times with moving the central firehouse a little closer to that part of town in order to cut some time off responses and free up the lucrative North Main Street site for development.
Former Mayor William Stortz said this fall there’s interest by developers in buying the firehouse.
As it is, the central station requires renovations that would cost at least $2.1 million, officials said, while building a new one might cost $4 million, not counting the land required for it.
Cockayne said he’d like to see a committee that included Pose, a City Council member, fire commissioners and perhaps some ordinary citizens.
Ward said he thinks one could be established under the auspices of the Fire Board, probably including the council representation assigned to fire issues, Democrat Cliff Block.
Second-term city Councilor Kevin McCauley, a firefighter, said he highly recommends the city look into the issue.
Ward said a new firehouse could possibly be built near Bristol Central High School or on the former Chic Miller auto dealership at the foot of the big hill on Wolcott Street.
Councilors rejected the idea of buying the former dealership last fall because of concerns about the cost and possible pollution.
City Councilor Frank Nicastro said at the time that he’s also worried about buying up more privately held land.
"We're taking a valuable piece of property off the tax rolls if we buy it," Nicastro said.
Nicastro called it a "nice piece of property, commercially zoned" and said it would be "wrong" to purchase it without a real plan.
At the time, Ward sided with Stortz and Republican city Councilor Mike Rimcoski to look into the purchase, but nobody else agreed so the idea died.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com