WALLINGFORD — Construction of a new North Farms Road fire station is expected to start next week and be completed in about a year.
The contract was awarded to Rocky Hill-based Millennium Builders Inc., which submitted a $3.9 million bid. The new station will be located at 884 North Farms Road, a former horse barn and dairy farm the town purchased in 2011. It will be used by the North Farms Volunteer Fire Department.
“We’re looking to kick off next week for construction,” said Fire Chief Richard Heidgerd said. “We’re working on the permitting process ... getting all that stuff in order.”
The new station will be built on 11 acres once owned by farmer George Simpson.
Heidgerd said he expects construction to finish in a year, though he added that it wasn’t a “hard number.”
The volunteer fire department is currently stationed at 636 Barnes Road.
“The volunteer crew (outgrew) the station many years ago and they’ve been patiently waiting,” Heidgerd said. “It will allow us to deliver public safety more appropriately. It will reduce response times.”
The project has experienced delays since 2011. Last year, the first bid yielded proposals that ranged from $6.4 to $8 million, substantially more than the town planned on spending. That bid called for a 16,000-square-foot building, including a mezzanine storage space and a geothermal heating system.
The project was scaled down by 20 percent and features a wood frame structure, as well as a traditional gas-powered heating system and reduced landscaping.
Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said awarding a winning bidder was “good news.”
“Hopefully we will be moving forward,” Dickinson said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
PLAINVILLE — Demolition of the former Linden Street School has won voter approval with the passage of the 2015-16 budget, but the work to tear down the century-old building is probably months away, town officials said Thursday.
"We may be able to do some internal procedural work to prepare for the project," Town Manager Robert Lee said, but he added that it isn't certain that demolition could take place this summer because the town has to seek bids for the work and hire a contractor."I hope to know more in time for the next council meeting [May 4]," Lee said.
The $56.5 million budget, which passed by a 3-1 ratio in an April 28 referendum includes $2.6 million to raze the school, which has been unused since 2009 and is not needed by the town or wanted by civic groups, in part because of the estimated $7 million cost of bringing the building up to safety codes.
Last November, residents rejected an earlier town plan to borrow $1.1 million to finance the project. Town officials said that "no" vote clearly rejected the financing question but did not bar different ways to get the work done.
Kathy Pugliese, chairman of the town's Republican-led council, said Wednesday that officials' efforts before the budget referendum to explain the issue to residents probably helped it to pass.
"I'm delighted it passed," she said of the budget. "We did a better job of informing people of the need to tear down old Linden Street School than we did in the fall."