Canton will receive $250,000 toward an emergency services building.
CANTON – Officials learned Wednesday that the federal government has approved a grant that will largely pay for construction of a fire and rescue squad building.
Selectman Sue Gammon said the town will get $250,000 for the station. That figure must be matched with another $50,000, either in cash or in-kind work by the town.
“This is wonderful news,” she said.
Fire Chief Wayne Dube applied for the community development block grant late last year.
The town’s existing station is in the flood plain and often experiences high water, and the 40-year-old building is too small for a growing community, said Dube in the application process. The municipal building houses fire and rescue squad apparatus as well as town offices and a meeting room.
The new facility will be built somewhere on Route 108, perhaps near the new highway garage. Gammon said the site has yet to be finalized.
As tentatively planned, the station would have 5,000-square-feet of space and measure 80- by-52 feet. It would be a wood or metal building with six bays.
Dube said during the application process that it would have sufficient space to house emergency equipment as well as a training room, men’s and women’s bathrooms and showers, a dispatch office, a small kitchen, a place to wash firefighting clothing after a fire, and a second training room that could be used for an emergency shelter.
Gammon isn’t sure if a special town meeting would be called to accept the grant. That meeting, if held, could come within a few days, or it may wait until the annual town meeting in March.
The planned emergency building move to Route 108 could very well be another step in the relocation of the village from its site along Route 140 which is in the flood plain. The Comprehensive Plan Committee has recommended relocation of the village. Residents will act on the plan at the March town meeting. Meanwhile, the Comprehensive Plan Committee is awaiting word on whether federal funds will be granted to make that move.
eadams@sunjournal.com
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