By Frank MacEachern
Staff Writer
TheAdvocate Article Launched: 10/28/2008
NORWALK - Renovating the city fire headquarters at 121 Connecticut Ave. is not a viable option, and a new building should be constructed instead.
That's what a consultant is recommending in a report to be presented tonight to the Common Council.
The best option for a new fire headquarters is just across Connecticut Avenue from the Charles A. Volk Headquarters, Station 2, according to Norwalk Fire Chief Denis McCarthy.
"That's the preferred option for us," McCarthy said about the site on the north side of Connecticut Avenue, between Glenwood and Clinton avenues. "It is just as convenient as our current location."
McCarthy said the existing headquarters, built in 1963, no longer fits the department's needs.
"The apparatus floor is sinking, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning, plumbing and electrical (systems) present almost daily challenges to us, and they act up obviously at the very worst times," McCarthy said.
Pacheco Ross Architects, a Voorheesville, N.Y., firm specializing in evaluating emergency response services, along with its consultant, Granito Associates, studied whether to renovate the existing headquarters or build a new facility across Interstate 95 at 100 Fairfield Ave. The fire department uses that site for equipment it cannot keep at the 23,000 square-foot headquarters because space is lacking, McCarthy said.
Mayor Richard Moccia, a fire commission member, said the commission received the report last Tuesday.
The consultant said both options have significant drawbacks and recommended building a new headquarters elsewhere.
"The current station can continue in its limited capacity to service the fire department, but it is quickly reaching the end of its useful life; even with minor renovations," the report states. "We do not consider major renovations as a cost-effective or viable option. The Volk station falls well short of meeting current response, operations, training and administration and living needs."
A major renovation of the Volk station would cost an estimated $6.98 million, the report stated.
The 100 Fairfield Ave. site also would face challenges, the report states. There is an "extreme uphill grade from that site onto Fairfield Avenue. Even with additional traffic signals, response safety would be compromised and difficult,"the report notes.
The report estimated headquarters construction at 100 Fairfield Ave. would cost $11.05 million.
Building a new headquarters on Connecticut Avenue would cost an estimated $10.63 million. Neither estimate includes land acquisition, McCarthy said.
The earliest a new fire headquarters could be open is 2014, McCarthy said. Earlier this year, the Planning Commission recommended spending about $14 million for a new headquarters in the 2012-13 fiscal year, the report notes. None of that money has been approved.
McCarthy and Moccia each cautioned that real estate conditions can vary, and it's difficult to predict what the cost of land would be for a project which is still years away.
"Of course, we have to remember that but this is still a few years away, and we certainly hope the economy improves soon," Moccia said.
- Staff Writer Frank MacEachern can be reached at or francis.maceachern@scni.com or 750-5351.