WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Fire District officials will take their case for acquiring a Main Street parcel to Town Hall before an expected October special meeting to approve the purchase.

 

The Prudential Committee plans to ask Fire District voters to approve $400,000 for the purchase of the 3.7-acre so-called Lehovec property next to the new Aubuchon Hardware on Main Street (Route 2).

 

At a special meeting of the three-person committee on Wednesday, the Prudential Committee discussed its outreach initiatives to generate support for the acquisition.

 

This is the second time the district has attempted to purchase the same property for a prospective new fire station. The last time, in 2013, the district was accused of not keeping the town abreast of its intentions, Prudential Committee Chairman John Notsley said.

 

Ultimately, the land deal was defeated twice in special Fire District meetings — both times winning approval from the majority of voters present but not the two-thirds "super majority" needed for success.

 

Notsley told his colleagues that he has asked to be included on the Board of Selectmen's agenda for its Sept. 11 meeting, and the committee discussed overtures to over town officials, including, perhaps, the Conservation Commission, which could have concerns about stormwater management at the site.

 

The committee decided to ask the town's conservation agent, Andrew Groff, to sit down and discuss the potential for work on the site.

 

"We can communicate what we propose to do and also say we plan to improve the site and make it more presentable for the town," Fire District clerk/treasurer Corydon Thurston said. "We can ask for [Groff's] recommendations and the Con Comm's recommendations."

 

And they can hope that the Selectmen support the land purchase, particularly since the idea of a joint police-fire facility, which was raised back in 2013, is off the table. Earlier this year, the town announced its intention to purchase the former Turner House veterans home on Simonds Road for a new police station.

 

"Since we made our first attempt, we had the Public Safety Building Study Committee that came up with nothing as far as a site for a combined facility," Notsley said.

 

The Fire District, unlike the Police Department, operates separate and apart from the rest of town government. After the second failed attempt to purchase the Lehovec site in 2013, the town and district formed a joint special committee to explore options for a shared building.

 

Both the police and firefighters are operating in structures that are too small and outdated for their needs. In the case of the Fire District, it specifically needs a structure that can accommodate its current apparatus as well as a tanker truck to meet the town's needs, officials say.

 

The current fire station has 4,325 square feet of space on a 1/2-acre lot. On the advice of a consulting engineer based on Connecticut, the Fire District hopes someday to a facility in the neighborhood of 20,000 square feet.

 

"We've always wanted a tanker truck so we can respond to your house if you live outside the area served by hydrants," Fire Chief Craig Pedercini said at a 2012 hearing before the first try to acquire the Lehovec site. "Our biggest trucks carry 1,000 gallons [of water] each."

 

Tanker trucks carry three times that much water.

 

A properly outfitted Fire Department will protect the town and could pay dividends for residents, district officials say.

 

"I wouldn't mind mentioning the insurance piece again," Thurston said on Wednesday when discussing the upcoming outreach campaign. "When we talk about future needs, at our next [Insurance Services Office] inspection, a tanker will impact the insurance rating. … That alone will decrease people's homeowners insurance rates. I don't know how much.

 

"That plus the liability issues, the tight space [at the current fire house], and, of course, the bunk space if needed down the road. We're having more females among the firefighters, and we don't have facilities for women."

 

Prudential Committee member Ed Briggs said Wednesday that his conversation with the designer included the notion of potential expansions at some unforeseen date — like for bunk rooms — is something worth considering when selecting a site for the new fire house.

 

The location of the Lehovec lot on a main artery and the extra acreage for parking and training of the town's call-volunteer firefighters also make it an attractive location for the district.