Orange takes steps to replace 50-year-old station and fire headquarters, but funding remains a question

For two decades, Orange has been asking what to do with its aging Fire Station No. 1 on Grand Street in Old Town – which doubles as its fire headquarters.

The city may finally have come to an answer: Build a new station on a city-owned lot at 105 S. Water St. – less than a mile east from the current Fire Department headquarters. The City Council has authorized getting designs drawn up for a building to replace the 50-year-old station and house its headquarters.

The new building would be about 29,000 square feet, which is 20 percent bigger than the current station, officials said.

“It’s something long overdue,” Mayor Mark Murphy said during a recent council meeting.

A study commissioned by the city in 1997 found seismic issues with the station. The city had explored retrofitting and renovating the building in 1999, but the effort was abandoned due to the high costs.

The last recession derailed renewed efforts in 2008 to find a solution.

Now 10 years later, with other big city projects completed on off their plate, Orange leaders are back to the fire station problem. The question remains how the city can find the more than $27 million that the city staff estimates is needed for the project.

“We certainly hope and do see evidence that the number can be lower,” Public Works Director Christopher Cash said. “But we want to use a number that’s realistic, but hopefully also the worst-case scenario.”

Orange has about $16 million on hand from various reserves such as the city’s capital projects fund. But staff members are warning against using all the available money because the city may have other capital projects officials want to do later.

Cash said the city may have to issue up to $21 million in bonds to cover all the potential costs of the project. One option could be to fund construction of the new fire station, then later address the need for space for the headquarters with an addition.

The staff will likely return to the council at the end of the year with refined cost estimates and funding options. Designs for the project are expected to be completed by December 2020.