On Thursday, April 24, at 6 p.m., an informational public meeting about the town’s new fire station will be held at the Auburn Elks building located at 754 Southbridge Street in Auburn. The Fire Station Building Committee, Tecton Architects, and LeftField project managers, will present the latest design, floor plans, project discussion, and tax impacts to interested Auburn residents. 

Tours of the West Street Fire Station will also be available. The proposed new building located at the junction of Prospect Street and Route 20 westbound is the replacement for the West Street Station 2, formerly a school building, which will revert back to school property once the new station goes online. The Auburn Street Station will then become Station 2.

According to the town’s website, town meeting members in 2024 voted overwhelmingly to approve $4.6 million to purchase the Prospect Street property (formerly known as Chuck’s Steak House). The former business has been demolished and the empty lot now awaits construction of the town’s newest municipal building. 

The Town has been working with Tecton Architects since 2018 on the conceptual design of a new fire station. The Town Manager appointed a committee of Auburn residents with various backgrounds known as the Fire Station Building Committee (FSBC). The 12 member committee sponsored a warrant article at the fall Town Meeting on November 13, 2024 to re-appropriate available funds from the 10 Prospect St. demolition project to hire an Owners Project Manager (OPM). That article was approved and the committee posted a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) seeking bids for a qualified OPM. They conducted public interviews in mid-December and selected LeftField, an OPM company based in Boston, to manage the project. The OPM is now assisting with the final stages of design development of the building. After several iterations, the FSBC has approved a conceptual design of the building. The FSBC held a “Design Charrette” on Tuesday January 21 to encourage public participation so they could hear thoughts on the exterior design and materials. A survey was available to the public on the FSBC webpage to hear from residents who were not able to be at the charrette in person. The survey results were presented to the FSBC on February 18 and as a result of the public feedback Tecton made several changes to the exterior design of the building to give it a more “traditional” look which is what the public expressed they wanted. The FSBC will work closely with Tecton Architects and OPM on a proposal that will seek full project approval through a Debt Exclusion Vote on May 20 to design, construct, equip and furnish a new Fire Headquarters.

The total project cost is estimated at $31 million. This includes an additional million to account for any increases in steel prices from potential tariffs. The Finance Committee and Select Board voted unanimously to recommend the use of $8 million from cash reserves to reduce the borrowing amount on tax payers. The borrowing for the project would be $23 million bringing the cost to $46.73 per quarter and $186.93 annually based on the median assessed home value of $394,800. The use of $8 million in cash reserves will bring the savings on interest to over $3 million. The full amount of the borrowing would not occur immediately so this amount would not hit the quarterly tax bill until fiscal year 2028.

All administrative functions will move to the new building which will also have expansion capabilities on its west side. With much foresight, an additional $1 million was built into the new building’s budget in the event of tariffs on steel. Fingers crossed that new steel tariff costs put in place by our country’s current president will not affect the budget.