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LENOX — The town’s plan for a $25 million public safety complex is a go.
The Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday gave unanimous approval to the site plan for the project, paving the way for construction of the new facilities for the police and fire departments and Lenox Ambulance EMS to begin this spring. Completion is expected by the end of 2025.
“I’m 110 percent in favor,” longtime ZBA member Jedd Hall said of the “long overdue” complex.
“It’s a great location, a great project,” he said. “It will improve everything and streamline police and fire for public safety.”
Addressing the need for a new facility has been a work in progress for 10 years, as the police and fire departments have long outgrown their current downtown headquarters. Funding was approved unanimously by special town meeting voters in December 2022.
The 5-acre construction site area is at the northeast intersection of Housatonic Street and Route 7/20 on 19.6 acres of commercially zoned and vacant woodlands that contained a gravel pit and quarry from the 1920s through the 1960s.
The building will be topped by a 150-foot transmission tower for police, fire and ambulance emergency services, expanding the reach of public safety radio and wireless communications, with future capacity for any other town needs.
The Lenox Fire Station (red roof) is located next to Town Hall in an obsolete, cramped facility dating from 1909. The town’s zoning board has approved a $25 million public safety complex at the northeast intersection of Route 7/20 and Housatonic Street. Construction is expected to begin this spring.
Nearby resident Kate McNulty-Vaughan pointed out that the tower would be ideal for co-location by a wireless cellphone carrier in order to improve widespread low- and no-signal areas in the town.
“It would be wonderful if we could piggyback on that to improve cell service in the town,” ZBA Chairman Robert Fuster Jr. agreed. Any wireless carrier would need a zoning board special permit and a two-thirds voter approval at a town meeting.
Hall also supported the potential wireless carrier use of the transmission tower, pointing to useless signals in Lenox Dale, where he lives.
Fuster called the project “excellent, very much needed” and commended Police Chief Stephen O’Brien and Fire Chief Chris O’Brien for their patience during the many years required to locate and approve a site.
There are no endangered species nor wetland concerns within the purview of the Conservation Commission at the location, said Carlos Nieto, landscape specialist from Berkshire Design Group of Northampton, hired by the town to prepare the site plan.
The design calls for energy-efficient, downward-facing lighting, dimmed unless triggered by sensors, sparing neighbors from any impact, he said.
The only access to the facility will be a driveway from Housatonic Street opposite Caligari’s Hardware.
The facility can accommodate expansion for several additional employees in each public safety department, if and when needed, said Jim Hanifan of Caolo & Bieniek Architects in Chicopee.
ZBA member Kimberly Duval, who later voted in favor of the project, voiced strong appreciation for the town’s police and fire departments, but wondered “why this is necessary or prudent in any way in this climate of rising construction costs, why we need to be building a new facility, cutting down a forest, working around vernal pools and a ledge … to meet the needs of a town that’s not growing.”
Firefighter Josh Romero, left, and Deputy Chief Jason Saunders wash Engine 1 at the Lenox firehouse in June 2021. The obsolete 1909 downtown fire station, where new equipment has to be special-ordered to fit the cramped space, will be replaced by a new public safety complex soon to be constructed on Route 7/20.
Stephen O’Brien responded that “we need more space,” noting the police force is in the process of staffing up from nine to 13 and from four cruisers to six. “What we have is totally outdated, and this is the obvious way to go.”
Select Board Chairman Edward Lane pointed out that four other sites for a new facility were explored. But this location turned out to be the best spot, second only to a Brushwood Farm location that was unusable because of wetland issues.
He described the current Town Hall basement housing the police department as “woefully inadequate for any kind of modern police work.” Lane also noted that special firetrucks have to be acquired to fit in the obsolete 1909 fire station next to Town Hall.
And ZBA member Arthur Oliver noted that “it’s easier to start over and build something new than to fix something that’s not fixable.”
During public comment, resident Michael Wilser of nearby Stone Ledge Road inquired about the impact of potential blasting during construction.
Nieto said it appears blasting is not expected to be necessary.
The replacement for the outmoded fire station, as well as the code-challenged police station and ambulance garage in the basement of Town Hall, will be financed through a federally subsidized, long-term 30- or 40-year loan.
While there’s no plan yet for the vacated police and fire stations, Town Manager Christopher Ketchen has said that the $25 million “all-in” project cost includes provisions for necessary alterations and upgrades at those downtown sites for potential reuse.
