Washington Twp. Approves $6M Emergency Services Building

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, NJ – Changes are on the way to a busy Pascack Valley intersection.

Washington Township’s existing 66-year-old fire department, located on Washington Avenue just east of the Pascack Road intersection, will soon be knocked down to make way for a new building that’ll house firefighters along with the volunteer ambulance corps.

On Monday evening, a $6 million bond ordinance was approved by the council to fund the project, according to Township Clerk Susan Witkowski.

The plans call for the construction of a two-story firehouse, just east of the current firehouse on Washington Avenue by Pascack Road, and the demolition of the old firehouse.

The volunteer ambulance corps, which is now headquartered on Hudson Avenue, near town hall, will move into the first floor of the new firehouse.

Township officials are also continuing to work with the owner of Seasons Catering on Pascack Road to create a new commuter parking lot on the northwest corner of the intersection, which is property owned by the venue, according to Mayor Peter Calamari.

Doing so, he said, would free up the current fire department parking lot to be used by emergency service volunteers instead of residents catching a bus at the nearby corner.

“This is a positive safety issue not only for commuters but our volunteers,” Calamari wrote in a social media post about the project.

The existing fire department was constructed in the 1950s, renovated about a decade later and “desperately needs to be updated to modern standards and codes,” the mayor said.

At minimum, the “basic needs” for an upgraded department include “bay doors to fit modern sized trucks, spaces for volunteers to perform essential primary and support functions, room to store their gear and areas to dress and equip themselves prior to calls,” he wrote.

There will also be new traffic signals and lights added outside of the firehouse that will synchronize as trucks leave and return, which, the mayor said, adds “to the safety and efficiency improvements.”

According to the mayor, township officials have spent over a year working on plans for the corner and a new emergency services building.

“Our goal was always to provide a state-of-the-art building that could stand the test of time as not only a safe and sound structure but a practical and fiscally smart investment for our town,” Calamari wrote.