Firehouse rehab grant reignited by State Reps
Published on April 23rd, 2008
STONEHAM, MA - The Central Street firehouse will soon receive a retroactive rehab, thanks to the availability of $140,000 worth of grant money once considered lost to the town.
According to Stoneham Fire Chief Joseph Rolli, he and Town Administrator David Ragucci urged State Rep. Paul Casey (D-Winchester) and State Senator Richard Tisei (R-Wakefield) to extend the availability of a preservation grant through the end of this fiscal year.
Without the efforts of the two legislators, the money would have vanished, leaving Stoneham with a missed opportunity to undertake a much needed renovation project at the historical building.
"That was left of the back burner," said Rolli, referring to the staff turnover related oversight that almost led to the loss of the funding. "But we started lobbying our state legislators and they extended the money."
"If we didn't lobby them, we would have lost the money. So I have to give our reps credit," the grateful fire chief commented.
In particular, the town has sought proposals for the replacement of the fire station's overhead and side doors, to be returned to the shade of green that existed when the station was erected in 1916.
Contractors will also repair some of the masonry work on the building's exterior to eliminate a flooding issue in the basement, and the station's galvanized iron trim will also be repainted.
"If you drive by it, you'll notice it," said Rolli of the work to be performed. "It will look nice. It will be nice to leave the building [in better shape] than when I came here."
This Tuesday night, Town Administrator David Ragucci revealed even more good news: The bids for the project came in much lower than expected.
"The bids came in for the fire station last Friday and they came in $40,000 [lower]," Ragucci explained. "So we'll be able to do additional work at the fire station."
In July of 2006, Casey and Tisei announced that they had secured the $200,000 in funding from the Mass. Historical Commission for the rehab of the fire station.
However, largely due to staff turnover, including the departure of former Fire Chief Lawrence Lamey and the transition from former Town Administrator Ron Florino to Ragucci, that pool of money still sat untouched in April of 2006.
Rolli and Historical Commission member Marcia Wengen then scrambled to at least tap part of the funding before it was lost.
During last May's Annual Town Meeting, thanks to their efforts, a preservation restriction was placed on the firehouse, allowing the town to obtain an architectural and structural assessment of the facility with $60,000 of the grant money.
According to Wengen, since that study took place, she has scrutinized old records and newspaper accounts about the fire station, an exhaustive research project that is required under the state grant.
Although originally stymied in her attempts to find the building's original blueprints, the Stoneham Historical Commission member had a surprising break-through with the Mass. Archives in Boston.
However, the 13 pages of renderings were so dilapidated, a professional photographer had to be called in to take snapshots of the blueprints with a $33,000 camera.
"I was thrilled to find 91-year-old blueprints at the Mass. Archives. Who knew? I couldn't even find them in my own town," Wengen recalled.
During her research, Wengen learned that the station, built in 1916 and designed by Wolfboro, N.H. native Penn Varney, was originally equipped with four stable stalls for horse drawn fire apparatus.
The stables were apparently abandoned shortly after 1923, when Stoneham purchased its first pumper truck.
According to Wengen, she felt an eerie sense of deja vu when she read about the controversy swirling around the location of the station.
In fact, there was a move in town to construct the building right near Northeast Tire, the same spot chosen in 2004 as the preferred site for a new station by a now defunct search committee.
During that more recent process, a number of opponents of the site argued that the station was situated too far away from the center of Stoneham and would result in slower response times due to Main Street traffic - the identical arguments made in 1916 when the Central Street station was pitched.
"The controversy had to do with the land. There were seven potential sites, and one of them, interestingly enough, was where we were talking about building a new fire station a few years ago," Wengen
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