Former school likely to be razed

City leaders said Monday the only want to keep the former South Chippens School in order to knock it down.
There doesn’t appear to be much support for preserving the 1936 schoolhouse next door to the Hill Street firehouse.
On a tour of the building, city councilors and Board of Finance members said they don’t see much historical value and only want to keep the place so that it can be razed whenever the planned firehouse expansion takes place.
“I think there’s a need to retain the property,” Mayor Art Ward said. He said he wants it to be available for the fire department’s use.
When the new 900-student school is constructed down the street, Ward said, the expanded firehouse will be necessary.
City Councilor Ken Cockayne said he doesn’t want the city to spend money on upkeep if it’s going to tear the building down.
No formal decision on the building’s fate has been made, but officials gave little indication they see merit in preserving the 165 Hill St. structure.
John Smith, finance board member, said he was assistant superintendent when the school closed in 1973. At the time, it was used for special education, he said.
“Before that, it was a two-room schoolhouse,” Smith said, that opened in 1936 on a site used for schools since 1755.
“It’s not even 100 years old,” city Councilor Cliff Block said.
“The historical significance is out the window,” Ward said. “I don’t think we should put a lot of money in it.”
“We can use it for cold storage in the meantime,” Cockayne said.
Public Works Director Walter Veselka said it’s his job to take care of all the city’s building unless there’s a deliberate choice made not to maintain it.
City department heads said they are willing to do whatever the policy makers decide, including whether to pay about $6,000 annually to keep heating the structure a bit.
“I can’t ignore it. I just need a conscious decision. It can’t be a decision by no decision,” Veselka said.
“If I’m going to be responsible for it, I’m going to need a budget to go along with it,” Fire Chief Jon Pose said.
Pose said his department can get by without using it for storage. He said he could also share the space with other departments, if any are interested.
The upper floor of the old brick schoolhouse has a checkerboard tile floor, quite worn, and two large rooms separated by a small central office. Each of the larger rooms has a tiny office.
There are a few bathrooms that are still working.
The stairs are wooden, with a wooden banister. The basement may have been used as a gymnasium, with a fireplace on one end. An old slate chalkboard still hangs on the wall.
The plaster walls have some flaws and some paint is peeling on the basement walls.
There are many large windows throughout the building that appear to be original, giving it a light and airy feeling – at least on a nice autumn afternoon.
The structure has been vacant since the nonprofit CW Resources moved out a year and a half ago for new quarters on Broad Street. It had been paying $1 a year to use the building since 1974.

*******
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City eyeing a new firehouse

The city is eyeing a new $4 million fire station to replace the existing one on Vincent P. Kelly Road.

City officials hope to snag federal economic stimulus money to pay for construction of the new four-bay firehouse that would take the place of the half century old Engine 4 building.

The existing building has two bays for trucks.

City councilors plan Tuesday to ask for a necessary review of the idea by the Planning Commission.

“We have absolutely nothing to lose by pursuing it,” Mayor Art Ward said Friday.

He said that if Bristol’s firehouse is among the projects funded, the federal government would wind up paying 80 percent of the cost of the new station, leaving the city with only an $800,000 bill to get a new building.

At this point, there has been no design work, so the first step for the city would be to hire an architect to draw up the particulars for a firehouse there.

But several officials said the city would likely use an off-the-shelf design to shorten the timetable, allowing for construction to begin relatively soon.

That is part of the reason the city chose to begin its long-term plan to overhaul firehouses with the one on Vincent P. Kelly Road, they said. Its location makes it much easier to use a standard design than the other firehouses.

A possible upgrade for the city’s firehouses has been in the works for several years.

“It was already in the mix of things to do,” Ward said.

Officials said the extra bays may make it possible to coordinate the repairs and maintenance of fire vehicles with the public works garage across the street. There’s a chance for more coordination and efficiency in the operation, they said.

*******
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Firehouse chimney tilting dangerously

A 45-foot tall brick chimney beside the central firehouse is beginning to tilt.
Though it’s got a long way to go before it matches the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it’s leaning far enough to worry city officials who are racing to have it knocked down before it comes down on its own.
“It could be dangerous,” said city Councilor Cliff Block.
Fire Chief Jon Pose said that he noticed several weeks ago that “a distinct tilt” had afflicted the half century old chimney on the north side of the firehouse.
The freestanding chimney is connected by a single metal pipe to the firehouse itself. An emergency generator sits right beside it.
At this point, Pose said, the chimney is 8 inches off center, but there’s concern that it could creep further sideways.
“The base of the chimney is crumbling,” Pose said.
The city’s purchasing agent, Roger Rousseau, is soliciting bids to take down the chimney.
“Before it falls down, we’re going to tear it down,” Pose said.
It will likely be replaced by a power vent on the side of the firehouse that can serve the same function for a fraction of the cost of building a new chimney.
Public Works Director Walter Veselka said that when the chimney is removed this spring, the city will try to preserve as many bricks from it as possible to use for future renovations of the firehouse.
That way, Pose said, any bricks that have to be replaced can match the ones that have been there since the 1960s.
Veselka said that saving bricks will add a little bit to the cost, but it’s worth it.
The fire board and the city’s building committee each agreed this week to proceed with the chimney’s removal.

*******
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

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.

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