By Avice Meehan
Voters at a May 22 special town meeting gave the go-ahead for a new Norfolk firehouse in less time than it took for moderator Richard Byrne to read the resolution authorizing the $9.3 million building.
The unanimous vote, with more than 100 in attendance at the Botelle School Hall of Flags at 7 p.m., brought a multi-year study process to a quiet close. Voters began heading back out into the damp evening by 7:15 p.m. as members of the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department settled into a meeting of their own.

The resolution authorized the town to appropriate $9.3 million for the total cost of the project, including a contingency. The total will be offset by private fundraising, state grants and $500,000 remaining from the dissolution of the town’s defined benefit plan. Town officials were also authorized to borrow up to $3.8 million for the project, an amount that could be reduced by grants or other contributions.

The vote came more than six months later than First Selectman Matt Riiska had originally planned as members of the firehouse committee worked through the design to lower cost estimates. They eliminated a metal roof in favor of asphalt shingles, changed the design of the doors and left decisions about interior furnishings to another day.

The town’s current firehouse on Shepard Road is more than 50 years old and will be demolished. Discussions about replacing it with a larger, more modern structure stretch back more than a decade. Earlier plans were set aside by the Board of Finance because of the need to address unfunded pension liabilities. That was in 2013 and carried an estimated price tag of $2.7 million.