By Michael S. Hoey
CORRESPONDENT
The village and town of Darien boards met jointly Dec. 5 to discuss potential sites for a new fire and emergency medical services station.
The Town Board authorized paying $7,500 for its share of design and engineering costs related to selecting a site contingent on approval by the Village Board.
The Village Board will discuss and possibly vote on the issue Dec. 17. Board President Evelyn Etten and Village Administrator Diana Dykstra said the village first wants to look at records for the village-owned site the committee is considering to be sure it has no contamination.
Matt Smith, town supervisor and chairman of the ad hoc committee in charge of the building project, said the committee visited fire stations in Clinton and Harvard and found things they liked and didn’t like at both sites. Smith said the site must have adequate space for the building, parking and future expansion.
Smith said using the existing fire station site on West Madison Street is still a consideration but is not the preferred site. Smith said money gained from selling the site could help offset the cost of the new building.
Village Trustee Kurt Zipp said the site is not big enough to accommodate the building layouts the committee is considering. Smith said the committee would prefer two separate driveways for the new station, which would be difficult at the existing location.
The preferred site is west of the existing station on village-owned land that was the site of a water treatment facility. Some significant excavation and fill work might need to be done at this site to ensure the new building is at a higher elevation than the street to avoid drainage problems. An analysis of the property also needs to be done to ensure there is no contamination that would have to be dealt with before construction.
Resident Gerry Pelishek offered a plot of land he owns in the village industrial park just south of Maxx Motorsports as an alternative to the village-owned site. Pelishek said the village site will require too much fill to deal with a significant slope on the property.
Pelishek said his site is also the village’s in a way since it is part of the industrial park. He said it is a great fully improved, very functional site. Building there would also encourage other development in the industrial park, Pelishek said. Smith said the Pelishek property would also need some grading work.
Etten said the village-owned site is its preferred site because the village’s contribution to the new fire station is planned to be the land for it since the village does not have the liquid money to pay toward the project, though she did say she was not ruling out another site.
Smith said it is too early in the process to have any firm numbers on what the new building will cost, but he did say $1 million was a good ball park figure for a very basic building based on some figures the committee has looked at.
Smith and Zipp said the committee can’t proceed with site selection until both boards authorize $7,500 for design and engineering.
