$15.6 Million Natick Fire Station Approved, Headed To Ballot Box

NATICK, MA—No one likes to shell out more for taxes, even if means they might be saved from a fire.

So says Michael Lentini, who has been Natick's fire chief since March and a member of the Natick Fire Department for 28 years. He and his father-in-law, who retired in 2000 after 35 years with the department, have both worked out of the West Natick Fire Station, and both argue vehemently that the town needs a new one.

When studies conducted from 2005 to 2008 backing that conclusion, Town Meeting voters finally approved, 108-2, a warrant article allowing for a $15.6 million Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion for a new station in West Natick. The Board of Selectmen approved the exclusion at its August meeting, and, the measure is on the Nov. 6 ballot as Question 4.

Here's what the override would mean: Natick would borrow money to pay for a new station, bumping up taxpayers' property bills to help pay for the 20-year note. Approval would result in roughly a $65 per year hike for the owner of a house worth $500,000. A breakdown of the costs for the building are available from the West Natick Fire Station Building Committee.

"With most people, if you ask them, they say we need a new fire station, but don't want their taxes going up," Lentini said. "In the grand scheme of things, this is not a lot of money."

"I am supporting the station as a debt override/exclusion," added Town Administrator Melissa Malone. "And I have proposed a means to get the fire station built that takes into account the town's needs while balancing the ask to the taxpayer."

Currently, Natick fire operates Engine 4 out of the West Natick Station on Speen Street. The building opened in 1956, and officials and experts say it's far outlived its life and renovating it is just not feasible.

On a community Facebook page, one resident said she overheard others complaining about the size of the proposed building, and questioning whether a tax increase justifies a building so "big and elaborate."

"The firemen/women need a good place to house their equipment and be ready to save our homes/lives," another resident answered. "If it means we need to come up with more in our taxes, then that's what it needs to be. We need to bring all firehouses into the 21st century."

Stephen Howard, who has lived in Natick for more than 40 years, told Patch he is against the new station, as he was opposed to efforts to erect another new station. He said the impact on seniors with a fixed income or others who are struggling isn't worth the cost.

"The locations of the stations also make no sense," said Howard. "Why take up valuable retail space to locate the Central Street combination station in a location that every time an engine comes and goes it brings traffic to a screeching halt in both directions? It makes no sense. Nor does locating a newer bigger one on the Clover Leaf ramp onto Speen Street."

Howard argues that spending $21.6 million, which would ultimately be the cost after interest on the debt, on a fire station, before tending to 26 miles of "unaccepted roads" is unwise.

"All households living on these unaccepted roads are seeing their taxes used for alternate uses while the roads fall apart," he said. "If one street a year were brought up to code, the problem would have been solved in 20 years. When the town's vehicles ruin the private ways or unaccepted roads, who should pay? The town obviously bears responsibility."

But the fire chief argues that the old station can no longer house today's equipment.

"It was designed for an apparatus of the 1950s," Lentini said. "Everything [today] is much bigger. The engine barely fits, so size is a major issue."

Utilities systems at the West Natick station are constantly failing, he added. Workers are frequently called to unclog drains, repair roof leaks and electrical problems, and to get rid of pests. The windows, too, are outdated and not energy-efficient.

"I could go on and on," said Lentini, "It should be replaced. This has been ongoing for more than 10 years. It would would have been in the pipeline earlier, but with the crash of 2008, they decided to put it on the back burner."

The new station would be built next to the current station on property the town bought from the state years ago.

As with many fire departments across the country, Natick's has grown from one that mostly fought fires (and occasionally got a cat out of a tree) to a force that responds to a range of other emergencies.

"(W)e provide so much more than fire and EMS," Lentini said. "We have different hazardous material responses, technical rescues, rope rescue specialities, confined space rescues, equipment and training, even a dive team and dive vehicle and a rescue task force."

in 1956, there were fewer than 1,000 calls in a year, mostly in response to fires. In 2017, the department responded to 5,300 calls and the chief expects more than 5,800 in 2018, 40 percent of them from the West Natick area.

"There is such a large portion of growth in this area," the chief said. "There are five big apartment complexes, the Mathworks complex, the mall ... "

If the measure is approved, construction would start in the spring of 2019 and be completed in roughly a year. The old station would remain open during construction.

"Twenty years ago, we would have never thought we'd need a task force, and we don't know what we'll need 20 years from now, so we have to be prepared," said Lentini.

Photo via town of Natick