Committee Recommends Boston Road Location to Selectmen For New Fire Station

What’s the best plan for Westford’s Fire Department coverage? According to the Permanent Town Building Committee, the answer to that question is having three fire stations. Well, three-and-a-half.

Permanent Town Building Committee chairman Tom Mahanna told the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday that his board’s recommendation is to replace the current Town Center Fire Station with a new facility on Boston Road across from the former Eric’s, now known as Drew Farms, in addition to current stations in Nabnasset and Forge Village as well as a substation at the Jack Walsh Field in Parker Village that would be used jointly by Westford and other adjacent towns.

Discussions on the substation began after it was part of approval for the Cornerstone Square development, with Cornerstone developer Robert Walker being required to provide either a new station for Parker Village within two years of the development’s opening or a new fire engine.

Although that two year clock is now ticking, the Selectmen chose to investigate whether it should search for a location for the third full station on Route 110, the Boston Road location or rebuilding near Town Hall.

Another factor leading to the delay was determining how those options would impact the proposed fire coverage to be given to the town in Parker Village as part of the Cornerstone deal, or if the Boston Road location could potentially replace the Parker Village substation in some way due to its proximity to Parker Village compared to the current Town Center station.

“This has probably been the one project, the one issue, that our community has really been divided on,” Mahanna said. 

After not finding an appropriate location on Route 110, and finding that rebuilding at Town Hall either at the current location or behind the Police Station would be difficult, Mahanna told the board that a two-story facility on Boston Road would be the best option to reduce response times to Parker Village.

Although the current response average response time for first responders to reach Parker Village is around seven minutes, the state recommended response time is under six minutes.

“When you’re waiting for that ambulance response, every second counts,” he said.

The Selectmen held off on a final decision pending input from Walker and opinions from town counsel on the fire station agreement as well as more information on a potential stop light in front of a Boston Road station, which would require input from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation since the recommended station would be on a part of Boston Road maintained by the state.