Everyone advocating for an article at Town Meeting must be prepared to justify what he or she is asking for. This year, advocates for a new fire station on Elm Street in Peterborough have an especially difficult task ahead of them May 11.

The rollout earlier this year did not go well, as the estimated $23 million price tag presented by Town Administrator Nicole MacStay and HKT Architects Principal Janet Slemenda raised red flags for residents and Budget Committee members alike. Concerns about the cost included  whether a 30,000-square-foot building was appropriate for a town the size of Peterborough.

Then town officials realized that the required borrowing for a $23 million project would put the town over its state-mandated debt limit. That led to the request that is now on the warrant for $2 million in bonds for preliminary engineering, permitting and design.

Advocates face a real challenge. They have to convince residents that the station is needed and that the size and scale is appropriate. Fire Chief Ed Walker has called the current condition of the station dire, with massive safety concerns for department personnel and not nearly enough space to store necessary apparatus. Regarding the size of the building, Walker has argued that the station serves not just Peterborough, but 13,000 people in 75 square miles through the ambulance service. 

Reservations about the size and cost frequently come with the acknowledgment that the town needs a new fire station. The biggest hurdle for town officials is to convince residents to trust them to spend $2 million to design a suitable structure within the town’s means. After bolloxing the first version, will the town come back with something better, or does a blank slate mean more of the same, only now with a $2 million investment that will be difficult to throw away? Yes, the town needs a safe structure, and it needs fiscal responsibility. 

Residents on both sides of the issue also have a responsibility. The future of the fire station in Peterborough – whether that means going forward or all the way back to the beginning – will be in their hands on May 11. Residents, come to the Town House, take part in the debate and vote.