Temporary Fire Station Approvals Underway

The Planning & Zoning Commission on Tuesday gave preliminary approval for a plan to build a temporary fire station at the Horseneck Lane commuter parking lot while the new Central Fire House is constructed at the site of the current station at 15 Havemeyer Place.

As explained by Al Monelli, the town's superintendent of building construction and maintenance, the temporary station will consist of two modular buildings — a two-bay station for the fire apparatus and small dormitory providing housing for up to five firefighters. The station will house one pumper truck and the deputy fire chief’s response vehicle, he said. Meanwhile the station’s ladder truck will be temporarily relocated to the Cos Cos Fire Station along with three other firefighters.

In all, 46 commuter parking spaces will be affected by the construction of the two buildings, Monelli said. (No square footage was given for the buildings during the meeting.) Commuters who are displaced from the Horseneck lot will be able to use the Island Beach commuter parking lot instead, however this will require them to walk a greater distance and cross to the other side of the tracks.

When asked why the Horseneck commuter parking lot was selected for the temporary fire station, Monelli said, “first of all the department wants to remain located in the central district, in order to maintain response times.” He said the department worked with the town to identify town-owned parcels so as to avoid having to purchase property.

Monelli said town officials also looked at the Soundview Avenue and Island Beach commuter parking lots as possible locations. However, the problem with the Island Beach lot is that it sometimes floods in storms — and the Soundview Avenue lot doesn’t offer enough frontage to allow fire apparatus to safely turn out into traffic.

Planning & Zonning Commissioner Nancy Ramer pointed out that the Island Beach lot is used less and thus has a wealth of available parking spaces. She asked whether it might be possible to locate the buildings there instead and raise them on their foundations so that they won’t get flooded. Monelli replied that it wasn’t possible to raise the temporary fire station because of the fire trucks. Even if the station could be raised, the trucks would still have to exit the building, and that would be a problem if the roadway were flooded, he pointed out.

John Gilmore, an engineer working on the project, said although the Horseneck  and Island Beach lots are about the same elevation, the flood elevation for the Island Beach lot is much higher, because it is directly at the end of Greenwich Harbor.

Commissioner Peter Levy asked about the response routes from the temporary station and how they might impact traffic patterns in the area. Monelli said the town traffic department is conducting a study that will be presented to the commission at a later date. He noted the department was only expecting the commission to give preliminary approval of the site plan that evening, and therefore was not prepared to discuss traffic.

Monelli added, however, that the town will likely decide to install a traffic light on Horseneck Road to ensure traffic safety.

Suzanne Geiss Robbins, RTM District 2, said she didn’t understand why more consideration wasn't given to the commuters who use the Horseneck lot. She said the town has other places where it could locate the temporary fire station, including the parking lot at Stop & Shop on the Post Road.

“The inconvenience [to the commuters] is going to be so substantial,” Geiss Robbins said. “There are other spaces that could be used for this fire station … the Town could purchase a space for it. You will be disrupting people's lives so much.”

The commission won’t make a final decision on the facility until it has a chance to review the traffic study and have other questions answered.

Despite pleas from preservationists to renovate the old building, in September the Representative Town Meeting upheld a decision of the Planning & Zoning Commission , thus paving the way for the construction of a new, code-compliant fire station on the property.

The RTM vote upheld a previous P&Z decision to grant “Municipal Improvement” status to the fire station construction project, which can be viewed as Phase Two of the town’s state-of-the-art emergency services facility in downtown Greenwich. Phase One of the plan, involving the construction of a new public safety complex (i.e. police headquarters), was completed two years ago.

Phase two will involve razing the 1937 firehouse — which abuts the new police station — and building a new one, thus creating two modern and complementary facilities. “Municipal Improvement,” or “MI” is a special designation that P&Z gives to projects that are deemed to be of importance to the town.

Earlier this year, the RTM approved $2 million for the relocation of the station, staff and equipment to the temporary site, and for the design of the new headquarters.

The timeline for the fire station construction project was not discussed during the meeting however Assistant Fire Chief Robert Kick said the temporary station would likely remain in the Horseneck lot for about three years while design and construction of the new fire station takes place.

Funding for the new fire station, with an estimated cost of $20.5 million, has yet to be approved.