Bernardston residents can share what they'd like to see in a new fire station during a public forum Tuesday.The forum, which will be held at Bernardston Elementary School, will start at 7 p.m. and will immediately follow an open house at the fire station from 6 to 6:45 p.m.
The open house was a recommendation by architects from Stevens & Associates, the engineering and architecture firm overseeing the planning, to allow residents who don't normally visit the station to see the space constraints the department currently has to work with. Then, the forum will allow residents to weigh in on the architects' proposed designs.
According to Fire Chief Peter Shedd, the station is extremely overcrowded. It houses four vehicles, with no room for the department's three equipment trailers, which are stored outside, and little office space.
To remedy the situation, residents voted to conduct a feasibility study on the station during a special town meeting in September, and a Fire Station Expansion Committee was formed to oversee the study's findings.
Since then, the seven-member committee has held several meetings with Stevens & Associates' architects. During an Oct. 25 meeting, Jon Saccoccio and Cory Frehsee of Stevens & Associates presented the committee with four possible blueprints for a new fire station, in preparation for the public forum.
Saccoccio added that the forum will be an opportunity to present residents with the pros and cons of their possible designs.
"I really suspect that we'll pull a lot of ideas together," he said.
The stream that runs on the westernmost side of the property is one of the biggest restraints architects identified, Saccoccio said, though they're also considering rerouting the stream to maximize space. Firefighters conveyed they'd like to have overhead doors on the new building's opposite sides, giving them the ability to drive out in both directions, and indicated 25 parking spaces to accommodate the entire staff would be ideal.