TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—Mayor Peter Calamari says a fall grand opening/open house is likely for the nearly $6 million emergency services building on Washington Avenue, now nearing completion.
Speaking with Pascack Press last week, he said the event would take place after the venerable but outdated firehouse next door is demolished “so there will be more parking at the site, and both departments, fire and ambulance, have had time to get moved and settled into the new building.”
If you look closely when passing by the new facility you can see the township’s newest firefighting vehicle, Tower Ladder 41, delivered in late July and ready for action as it sits behind the firehouse doors.
“We are excited to welcome the new queen!” the town’s volunteer fire department posted July 27 — adding that the open house would provide tours of the building and trucks.
The building was initially scheduled for a January 2022 opening but delayed by supply-chain holdups, officials said.
The building, under construction for over two years, is on budget despite some costly initial change orders and nearby residents’ pushback over the building’s size, scale, height, possible stormwater impacts, illumination and its cupola.
Earlier this year, Pascack Press reported several residents’ concerns about the building’s size, scale, and construction quality, but architect Robbie Conley, of Robbie Conley Architect LLC, Woodbury Heights, who designed the building and oversaw construction by visiting the site biweekly, said the building did not exceed its designed height of 53 feet at its highest point.
Conley noted there have been a “normal” amount of change orders on the project, including a $206,000 change order to drive steel foundation pilings into hard-pan soil. However, construction has taken a back seat to other township land acquisition efforts this year.
Conley told Pascack Press on Aug. 1 that the emergency services building is “95 to 98 percent complete,” noting that the general contractor is working to complete a final list of items from an inspection he conducted the previous week.
He said the contractor must still tear down the old firehouse building and replace it with a parking lot as one of the last items to be completed.
Conley said he believed the building’s design and updated accommodations should serve the township well for many years. He noted that residents were provided an opportunity to comment on the building’s proposed design at public meetings in 2019, observing “ a lot of people don’t pay attention to what’s happening in their local government until it directly affects them.”
He noted that the new building “was sized appropriately” for the emergency services needs of the fire department and ambulance corps, which he said likely will move from behind the municipal complex to the new building in September or October.
Throughout 2021, residents John and Lynn Pistono, Washington Avenue, repeatedly asked the Township Council to reduce the building’s height and scale at multiple public meetings, complained about shoddy workmanship, and questioned storm runoff, illumination issues, and the building’s decorative cupola.
“I’m numb at this point,” John Pistono told Pascack Press on Aug. 2. “It hasn’t worked out for us in this neighborhood, no, but we hope we don’t have any flooding issues … there’s no plumbing in place to handle the storm runoff we’re going to get from that building.”
He worried that with the new building and added traffic volume due to an expanded Pascack–Washington intersection “there will be too much activity on this corner” with fire trucks and ambulances going in and out.
Another project sore point: residents within 200 feet complained they did not receive notification of the project by certified mail but rather were notified via standard mail, as town attorney Kenneth Poller previously said. Poller had noted that municipal projects do not need to meet the same conditions and notification requirements as do local developer and homeowner projects.
Most residents seemed surprised to learn that the same zoning and building code standards that they need to follow did not apply to township-sponsored construction projects.
Moreover, just as the new building is being finished, the county has started a six-month project to expand and upgrade the congested Pascack Road–Washington Avenue intersection, expected to resolve traffic bottlenecks and congestion. It was unclear if the construction would cause any challenges for the new fire/ambulance departments and volunteers.
Conley speculated that volunteer emergency responders attempting to reach their new quarters might encounter traffic delays if the intersection project closes or partly shuts roads, as expected.
However, county officials and local police told Pascack Press that the construction should not cause complete road shutdowns, although it was likely to cause temporary traffic snarls.
Calamari posted July 27, “The intersection project primarily involves widening the existing roadway and adding additional traffic lanes. The majority of the work will take place behind the existing curb line thereby necessitating minimal disruptions to the existing roadway and traffic patterns during the construction.”
He said, “When the majority of that work is completed, the existing curbs/curb lines will be removed and the new lanes and traffic patterns will be incorporated into the existing roadway with signage, signals and striping.”
Calamari said “the primary disruption” will be the drainage portion of the project which will go across Washington Avenue between Pascack Road and Meisten Street.
He said “There should be prior notice by the contractor with regard to that portion and the Police Department will make efforts to disseminate that information via signage at the scene and social media/website. Any necessary detours will be created on a day-to-day basis based on the contractor’s needs for that day.”
Calamari said “The existing traffic pattern will be restored at the end of each day’s construction. The police department will make efforts to disseminate information received from the contractor regarding required detours or road closures via signage and social media/website as soon as it is provided.”
Traffic signal inbound, or needed, at firehouse?
It was unclear whether the township would be installing a traffic signal outside the emergency services building to manage traffic for emergency vehicles, as previously noted in the shared-service agreement. Conley said he was not sure whether the signal would be installed.
He suggested that fire and ambulance volunteers may wish to assess the traffic situation up close before deciding whether a signal was needed.
Calamari told his Facebook followers on Aug. 15, 2019, “Our present firehouse was renovated in the 1960’s and by all accounts desperately needs to be updated to modern standards and codes. Minimum basic needs for the building include bay doors to fit modern sized trucks, space 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 said, “We worked directly with members of the Ambulance Corps and Fire Department on specifications for the building.
Concessions by both departments were made. These included reducing the size of the building, smaller multi purposing rooms and reducing the quantity of bays. In addition to providing the aforementioned upgrades, an exhaust system for the trucks exhaust will finally be provided.”
He said, “New traffic signals and lights outside the firehouse that synchronize with the trucks coming and going will also add to the safety and efficiency improvements.”
Calamari said, “We are currently working with the owner of Seasons to create a new commuter parking lot on the north west corner of the intersection. We could then provide the Fire Department and Ambulance Corps volunteers complete use of their parking lot. This is also a positive safety issue not only for commuters but our volunteers.”
A firehouse signal provision was added by council resolution approved, 3-2, on Dec. 30, 2019: yes by members Michael DeSena, Steven Cascio, and Arthur Cumming; no by Robert Bruno and Michael Ullman. Cumming since passed away; only Cascio from this group is still on council.
The resolution read, “The Township shall provide to the county the funding necessary to cover the cost of any traffic signal equipment related to signal heads at the firehouse driveway.”
The SSA does not state that the signal is necessary. We reached out to Calamari for clarification for this story.
Calamari ceremonially broke ground at the site Sept. 27, 2020. (“‘May it protect.’ Shovels in for township’s joint firehouse, ambulance headquarters,” Oct. 5, 2020.)
Land deals keep town busy
Since January, the township has been involved in two high-profile property acquisition efforts, knocking the firehouse’s construction mostly off the public agenda.
Beginning in January, the township was found to be negotiating to acquire the 6.1-acre Washington Township Swim & Recreation Club for $750,000; and then bidding $1.35 million on a 1.5-acre property at 95 Linwood Ave. (the former Charlie Brown’s restaurant), hoping to use it first for a DPW facility, and then a police department when residents opposed the DPW.
Recently the council withdrew its $1.35 million bid following due diligence studies that showed underground piping from prior gas pumps used on the site, requiring more studies and investigation.
Plans are afoot to move the DPW back to town hall, where it was originally housed, before soil contamination from the 1970s and 1980s required the original building to be razed and soil beneath it remediated.