Williamstown Fire District Sets Date for Special Meeting on Land Purchase
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williamstown Prudential Committee on Wednesday set Oct. 24 as the date for a special Fire District meeting to decide whether to purchase a 3.7-acre parcel on Main Street.
The committee, which oversees the district, has entered into a purchase and sales agreement to buy the so-called Lehovec Property on Main Street (Route 2) with the hope of someday building a new fire house on the site.
The agreement is contingent on a vote of district residents to authorize the $400,000 acquisition, which the committee plans to make through the use of its existing cash reserves; the district has a long practice of accumulating reserves to purchase fire trucks without taking on debt.
The Oct. 24, 7 p.m., meeting at Williamstown Elementary School will mark the third time that the Prudential Committee has asked voters the same question, although it will be framed somewhat differently.
In 2013, the district looked to acquire the same parcel. That time around, the purchase price was $575,000, and its purchase would have required a bond.
Voters rejected the purchase when it failed to receive the necessary two-thirds vote for approval. The Prudential Committee then called a second special district meeting a few weeks later, and the proposal again was rejected.
At both 2013 meetings, the land deal was favored by the majority of voters present but not by the required two-thirds “super majority.”
At that time, some in the community advocated for the Fire District, a separate taxing authority outside the rest of the municipal government structure, to work with the town to look at a combined police-fire facility.
The Prudential Committee joined an ad hoc Public Safety Building Study Committee created by the Board of Selectmen to look for a solution that would solve the needs of the town’s police and fire departments, both of which are operating in outdated, cramped facilities.
Ultimately, the Public Safety Building Study Committee determined it could find no available piece of land that would satisfy both entities, and the committee disbanded.
This spring, the town manager announced plans to renovate a Simonds Road (Route 7) structure for a new Police Station. Meanwhile, the Lehovec site, which was briefly off the market while a Williamstown hotelier looked at building a three-story hotel on the property, went back on the market after the hotel plan failed to obtain needed special permits from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Tags: fire district, fire station, prudential committee, special town meeting,
