RTM: Study fire station first
With NW firehouse defeated, members say a study will determine if it’s needed
GREENWICH — With a proposal for a northwest firehouse again defeated, Representative Town Meeting members who led the effort to cut its funding said a new study will show whether a new station is actually needed.
Fire officials have long maintained they can’t reach that section of town quickly enough to adequately protect residents there, but their repeated attempts for a new station have not been able to convince officials who control spending.
The RTM this past week cut from the 2019-20 budget a $100,000 allocation to search for a site for a northwest station. At the same time, it approved $75,000 to study the fire service townwide.
RTM Budget Overview Committee Chair Lucia Jansen made the successful motion to cut the property search funds, with the backing of her and other RTM committees, including Finance. It followed RTM votes in recent years to turn down funding to purchase property for a northwest station (in 2016) and conduct a fire coverage study (in 2017).
But the new study will be different, she said, because it will be conducted independently and overseen by the Board of Estimate and Taxation, instead of by the Fire Department or town administration.
“I do not want to speculate the outcome of the fire study,” Jansen said. “Given that it’s been 30 years since the last evaluation in 1989, there is a lot to learn with actual response times, call volumes by area, type of incidents and station workload. We anticipate that with clarity in the data the consultants will suggest best practice recommendations while maintaining sound fiscal responsibility for the town’s residents and taxpayers.”
Parameters of a new study have not yet been set, but backers have said they want it to explore more than just the need for a northwest station. In particular, some have questioned whether stations throughout town are at the most effective locations.
RTM member Mike Basham, vice chair of the Finance Committee, said a study should look at where all the town’s fire assets, including stations and trucks, are situated and what can be done to improve service across the entire town.
“We need to know the most cost-effective ways to improve town response times,” Basham said.
Others, including proponents of a northwest station, question that approach, and question the feasibility of a study outcome that could conceivably suggest relocating several fire stations.
“As to the current locations of our fire stations, the Buracker Report of 1989 essentially said the current stations were in the right place,” said First Selectman Peter Tesei, who has long pushed for a northwest station. “That is why as a town, through the fire administration, the first selectman’s office, BET, P&Z and RTM, funding for renovations and new construction for these stations has advanced, been approved and projects completed. It would be foolhardy to close what the town has just invested multimillions of dollars to renovate and construct.
“Perhaps some of the loudest voices should understand the history as it is our greatest teacher,” he said.
Even though he hopes the study will explore the positioning of stations, Basham agreed a major change in station location is not likely. He called the proposition a “politically difficult exercise” akin to redistricting the town’s public schools, but added there likely are ways to improve response times without moving stations.
The results of the study could lead to approval for a northwest station,Basham said. He pledged that he would “wholeheartedly support” one if the study finds it necessary. Other RTM members who have objected to the fire station also said they will support the station if the report does.
BET Chair Jill Oberlander said Friday it will take a few weeks to draft the scope of the study, followed by the bidding and selection process.
“I expect that the BET will take up the proposed study at its July meeting,” she said. “It is premature to speculate on the recommendations and impact of a study that has not yet been contracted for.”
Tesei, who was among those urging the RTM not to cut funding for a site location this week, believes the need for a northwest station has long been established.
“I do not expect the town and fire administration to be involved in this (study) at all given the clear message send by certain members of the BOC that they do not trust or have confidence in the hard data that was provided to them by town professionals,” Tesei said.
Greenwich fire officials also indicated their department would not have any involvement in the study. Assistant Chief Robert Kick said the department would not have any comment about it because the BET is responsible for it.
Meanwhile, those on the RTM who have pushed hardest for a new station, representatives of District 10, which covers northwest Greenwich, said they are not giving up hope.
“We have studied it a long time and it’s very clear that this is a need,” District 10 member Louisa Stone said. “But in all times, Greenwich is very careful in how it spends its money. It’s better to have an understanding when you have a major project like this and come to a broad and deep agreement on something.”
Stone, who has lived in Greenwich for more than 60 years, is a past chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission.
“I’ve been here long enough to know that a lot of town projects take time, but it’s usually for the good,” she said.