PRESS RELEASE: Residents to Vote on Fire Station 1 Feasibility, Schematic Design Funding at May Town Meeting

WESTWOOD – Westwood voters will be considering an article during Annual Town Meeting on May 4 that will help determine the best location and design for Fire Station 1.

After the second vote regarding FS1 failed in September, the Town held a community forum and subsequently formed the Fire Station 1 Steering Committee. The committee is made up of nine Westwood residents from a variety of different backgrounds and supported by Town staff.

The committee held its first meeting in December and has met a dozen times. Since its formation, the committee has spent time learning about how the Westwood Fire Department operates. The FS1 Steering Committee prepared a spreadsheet that documents the programmatic needs of the fire station. The spreadsheet includes a list of rooms and spaces within a fire house, whether the current FS1 has it, and if the item is required, best practice, or something that would be nice to have in a new station.

On January 5, the committee named the following sites as their three preferred locations for FS1:

• The existing Fire Station 1 location at 637 High Street
• The former Deerfield Elementary School site at 72 Deerfield Avenue
• The town-owned landlocked parcel behind 736 to 738 High Street

During the February 25 Select Board meeting, members voted to place an article (Select Board Article 5) on the Town Meeting warrant. This article requests $325,000 from free cash for feasibility and schematic design funding.

Specifically, the article would fund professional services that will determine the best site for Fire Station 1. These professional services could include site evaluations; environmental analysis, including for wetlands; traffic analysis; and cost estimating, among others. The schematic design would create the first conceptual design of Fire Station 1 on a viable site.

Feasibility will also consider potential concerns from neighbors, such as noise, pedestrian access, and operational practices. This process does not initiate construction or replace residents’ vote at the ballot box for a debt exclusion to fund construction.

“We must receive a YES vote on May 4 to allow work on Fire Station 1 to continue,” said FS1 Steering Committee Chair Ford Spalding.

For more information about the project, visit westwoodma.gov/fs1.

Thanks to the Town of Westwood for contributing this news to Westwood Minute.

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