Old and new. Bourne plans 100 years of firefighting, also looks for new south station site

BOURNE — As plans get underway to celebrate the Bourne Fire Department's centennial next year, the town continues its decades-long search for a suitable home for a fire station south of the Cape Cod Canal.

Work on the fire department's centennial celebration begins with a preparatory session March 26 at the town archives building along Keene Street. At the recommendation of Town Administrator Marlene McCollem, the venture will not have a town committee.

“We have other town departments that are also turning 100," McCollem told the Select Board at a Feb 20 meeting. "For various fairness reasons, I would find it difficult to staff and devote resources to one department and not all departments.”

Select Board Chair Mary Jane Mastrangelo said the celebration is “a wonderful undertaking” with a caveat. “Being a town committee creates a level of complexity but the alternative provides a lot more flexibility without constraints.”

Retired Fire Chief Steven Philbrick of Buzzards Bay on Feb. 21 said the lack of a municipal imprimatur was no problem.

“No open meeting law issues,” he said.

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Philbrick said committee volunteers could explore fundraising and coordination of a possible parade, perhaps in conjunction with the Bourne Fourth of July procession along Main Street.

Philbrick would like to forge ties with the private Bourne Historical Society and town historical commission. Celebratory features might include apparatus exhibits, a summer fundraiser and possibly fireworks.

South side firehouse quest still in play

The centennial planning plays out with the latest efforts to secure a suitable site for a long-proposed fire station south of the canal.

McCollem said a request for proposals (RFP) was issued in January.

“Hopefully we will receive some promising responses,” she told the Select Board at a Feb. 20 meeting.

The town received one — and it fell short.

"The South Side Fire Station Committee met Tuesday, March 5, 2024 and voted not to pursue the proposal submitted March 1, 2024," McCollem told the Times in a March 8 email.

"The reply was outside the target area of the RFP," Select Board member Peter Meier said in a March 8 an email. "On the next agenda will be the next steps in the Shore Road side next to the ballfield and the possibility of going back to the (closed) Barlows Landing Road (firehouse) site in Pocasset after the (search) committee requested that site."

How much the new fire station would cost is uncertain. McCollem, who was instrumental in securing land and constructing a North Plymouth fire station in her previous job, said much still depends on negotiations to buy land for the project.

If such negotiations are successful, McCollem said an article to acquire the land could be placed on the warrant for a special town meeting this spring. But the request would not involve station construction costs.

She said money for construction — raised by a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion — might be sought at the May 2025 annual town meeting. A ballot question to approve the debt exclusion would follow.

Shore Road tract is back in play

If the Shore Road site eventually remains the top pick, McCollem said, the search panel will recommend taking the land next to the popular ballfield out of its legal conservation/recreation protection.

The town then would be forced to find suitable land elsewhere to place in protection and also secure legislative approval for such a move. It is this possible eventuality, with its complications and likelihood of lengthy delays on Beacon Hill, that persuaded the south-side panel to routinely rule out the Shore Road site last year.

The Shore Road tract was formerly owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. The town bought the land to preclude planned condominium development and assure continued open space.

The closed Monument Beach firehouse in the village center, meanwhile, is now staffed but the structure is not habitable. It remains suitable for apparatus with a retrofitted front facade.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Bourne fire plans centennial. Search for southside station continues.