New West Natick fire station approved by voters

  • 2018-11-09
Voters in Natick recently gave their approval to a debt exclusion from Proposition 2½ to build a new West Natick fire station.

Town Meeting had overwhelming approved the station at its meeting last month, and the state requires that such a debt exclusion also be presented to voters.

The cost of the building is expected to be $15.5m, which is $450,000 higher than when first discussed at Town Meeting, due to an increase in interest rates. This amount will be paid for by the developer of the second Cloverleaf apartments as a mitigation payment.

Chairman of the Fire Station Building Committee for West Natick, John Ciccarello, commented that construction is expected to be completed by March 2020.

Chief of the Fire Department, Mike Lentini, said a new station is needed for public safety reasons. There is not enough space in the old station to house all the equipment, as apparatus is much bigger today than it was in the 1950s. Utility systems are constantly failing, and the windows are not energy-efficient.

He added that a new station will enable quicker response to calls, as 40% are from West Natick and 60% of them require emergency medical services.

The community can be informed of projects as they get underway, and be kept abreast of their progress, through various printing services.