Building to house ambulance, state police

By Lloyd Garrison

The town committee overseeing the building of a new home for both the ambulance and the resident state trooper has chosen Robert Lamson of Barkhamsted to be the architect.

Lamson, who is already known to town officials for his work on installing new windows at Botelle School, has been asked to present his plans for the proposed emergency services structure by February 8.  The next step, according to Ted Veling, the building committee’s chairman, will be a review of Lamson’s plans by no less than 11 different town and state government entities.

Ted Veling, chairman of the Building Committee.

“Once we get the required approvals,” says Veling, “we will invite residents to come to an informational meeting to give us their input.”

This would be followed by a special town meeting to vote on a $350,000 bond issue to fund the project, which is slated to go up on town-owned land on the corner of Route 44 and Shepard Road.  The state has already pledged to pitch in $400,000.

Lamson says he hopes to design a “house-like” two story structure “in keeping with the look of other homes in the area that were built around the turn of the last century.” But he is aware of the many groups that will have a say in both the design and the cost of the building. “I will do whatever is asked of me,” he says.

Veling expects the Board of Finance to  examine the impact of the bond issue on the town’s tax rate and report on its finding at the informational meeting.  “We are going to be completely open with the town on what’s involved financially,” says Veling.

The project is linked to plans for enlarging the fire house, which can’t go forward until the existing police and emergency service building is torn down. “We need to get the new fire house ready by 2008,” says Veling. “That is when the department will be getting a new and bigger fire truck.”

The review process is likely to be lengthy. Here in Norfolk, the project must win the approval of the Selectmen, Conservation Commission, Board of Finance, Building Inspector and the Fire Marshall. In December, the Planning and Zoning Commission determined that the Shepard Street site was an appropriate use of town property, but must still rule on the architect’s plans.

Approvals must also come from the state’s Department of Transportation, Department of Health, State Police and Office of Emergency Management.

Photo by Lloyd Garrison.