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01/04/2021 11:00 PMFor the upcoming 2021-’22 budget, Madison Hose Co. No. 1 is requesting about $120,000 to plan and design a new building to be constructed on the east side of the downtown fire house, with fire officials saying they have essentially run out of space. It has also deferred a plan for a new fire boat for this year.
“That [current] building is serving what it’s supposed to do for the town but we’re just out of space,” Hose Co. Chief Bobby Kyttle said last month. “The captain runs his office...out of our bathroom, and that’s just where we’re at.”
The planned purchase of a new fire boat for $100,000 is being pushed back at least one year, though costs may rise later. Kyttle said a docking system installed over the summer has been phenomenal and has helped response times, but has also opened up new possibilities and “capabilities” for the department.
Kyttle declined to give even a “ballpark” figure for what the boat would eventually cost, but said it was important to get used to the new docking system before choosing the boat. The department currently uses a trailered fire boat that volunteers transport where needed.
Coast Guard officials have said that search and rescue operations in the Long Island Sound have increased by over 33 percent since the onset of the pandemic.
In 2017, the Board of Selectmen approved the purchase of a small fire boat for around $19,000. Kyttle told The Source at the time the plan was to use this boat for the long term. It was not clear if this is the boat that would potentially be replaced.
Additionally, Kyttle said that the current building space used by firefighters is from the 1950s and is proving cramped, with only a single bathroom.
But as the town looks to put forward a relatively conservative budget in the face of economic distress around the pandemic, First Selectman Peggy Lyons said this and many other capital projects are likely to remain on hold.
“Until we have a decision on the schools, it’s really hard to make a lot of other investment decisions because that really does impact significantly the entire planning process and our ability to fund things,” she said.
Lyons also cited an ongoing facilities study, which will also likely push back planned improvements on the Surf Club and other town properties. Results of that study will likely be available this month, she said.
Construction costs for the new fire building, which will remain unknown to some degree until architectural and planning work can be completed, according to Kyttle and Fire Marshall Sam DeBurra, but a preliminary estimate put the total expense at $2.8 million.
Selectman Erin Duques wondered whether it was wise for the town to invest significantly in a building that it doesn’t own, with DeBurra pointing out that Madison invested millions of dollars in the library despite not owning that building either.
Messages left by The Source at Madison Hose Co. No. 1 were not returned at press time.