Peterborough’s new fire station on Elm Street comes with an estimated $25 million price tag, according to HKT Architects principal Janet Slemenda, who presented on the project’s next steps to the Municipal Campus Task Force Thursday night.
“It’s a guess right now,” she said, mostly due to how volatile prices for materials have been over the past couple of years. “As my engineer said yesterday, my crystal ball is real cloudy right now.”
But Slemenda added that many of the impacts from market volatility will not go away if the town waits longer to put the project in motion.
“There is a problem if you keep continuing to wait,” she said.
The new Peterborough fire station and public safety campus on Elm Street would be a long, two-story building to the south of the existing Community Center, although the project being discussed is only the fire station, along with the site work to potentially add the police station in the future. Of the projected cost, 62% would be for the building itself, 3.5% toward site prep, 6.5% to utilities built after the structure construction is complete and 28% to “soft costs” like testing and inspections, architectural and engineering fees and moving costs.
Slemenda also presented updates to the preliminary engineering process, the outcomes of which might make an impact in the price, as well. These include decisions to be made about materials, as well as energy sourcing for the building’s systems, including choices about its sustainability. Other considerations that Slemenda said are being worked on include the look of the building, such as the windows and entryway, and the later-stage landscaping.
The task force discussed the price of the project at length, debating how to convince residents of the benefits of such an expense.
“It’s just so obvious that this isn’t just a kick-down-the-road thing,” said Sarah Steinberg Heller, a member of the task force as well as the Planning Board. “How can we pitch this to the community? Because this is a necessity, an absolute necessity.”
“What is the best way to get this message out?” said Town Administrator Nicole MacStay, suggesting open houses, Zoom and in-person meetings and tours of the current fire station, all of which the task force said would likely be necessary.
Benefits to pitch included higher retention and recruitment of firefighters as well as better traffic flow through the downtown area, in addition to the general disrepair of the current fire station.
“I think this is the time to engage everyone who can help get this message out,” said MacStay. “This is the time to get everyone talking.”
“We just have to try to sell it, we have to try our best,” said Steinberg Heller.
The project will be presented on March 1 at the town’s bond hearing.