Residents at the fall special Town Meeting Monday voted to dismiss an article calling for $12 million to demolish the old Main Street fire station, LowellSun.com reported.
Located at 51 Main Street, near the current Westford Police Department and Town Hall, the former fire station has been vacant since 2018 and shows signs of disrepair, the report said. It was built in 1974.
The town has already sunk nearly $900,000 into the project for a feasibility study, design and testing of the site, removal and reconstruction of a communications tower and more starting around 2017, the report said. The recommendation is to create a two-story, 9,100 square-foot building with office space for the Technology Department, Facilities Department and Veteran Services, as well as a 100-seat meeting room.
The estimated cost of the project is $12.01 million, according to the report.
But just before the article made it to the floor, a resident made a motion to completely dismiss it, citing it “does not meet the Select Board’s own criteria for consideration at a fall Town Meeting” because it isn’t timely like the J.V. Fletcher Library project, the report said. The resident also requested the town, instead, vote on the project next year at the annual town meeting, according to the report.
The motion to dismiss passed 319-259, the report said.
The town will take the project back up in March, when it will appear on the spring warrant, the report said. The debt exclusion ballot question will still appear on November 8, even though the vote on the project is postponed to next year.