Bourne said it wouldn't put firehouse on state-protected land. Is it the only option left?

BOURNE — Now that another MacArthur Boulevard address is ruled out as a suitable southside firehouse location, the site search committee is focusing on the white-pine forested tract north of the Shore Road ballfield at Monument Beach.

The South Side Fire Station Building Committee accepted the recommendation of Town Administrator Marlene McCollem on March 12 and unanimously decided the town property off Shore Road is suitable for fire station construction.

That night, the Select Board voted to “move the proposal forward” toward town meeting, while demanding extensive background information be quickly compiled for public consumption.

Both panels cite a public safety necessity and realize the site searches going back to last year have come full circle. The Shore Road location was initially — and quickly — ruled out of consideration in 2023. Officials were concerned the station there would impinge on town and state-protected conservation land.

During the site panel and select board discussion, there was no mention of the environmental value the wooded property presents. The proposed station site is under the control of the Conservation Commission and under state protection by the Massachusetts Environmental Affairs Office.

If the commission, which manages a Land Steward Program to conserve open spaces, unanimously decides the protected land is relinquishable, McCollem will prepare a 2024 warrant article. A two-thirds majority vote at a town meeting would then be needed to proceed with a station project.

In addition, the town would then have to file state legislation to remove the property from its protected state status and find other environmental acreage to mitigate the property's loss to development.

“This mitigation would have to be of equal or more environmental value than that next to the ballfield,” McCollem told the site panel. “This is a laborious process.”

State legislative approval could take from three months to two years, she said.

A key part of the legislation would involve the town arguing that no other suitable firehouse site could be identified south of the canal. Select Board Chair Mary Jane Mastrangelo said this aspect of the proposal is a “critical element.”

Fire Chief David Cody said the property is a good location for gauging appropriate fire/rescue calls south of the canal. He said 50% of all department calls for assistance come from the southside, and 35% of that volume is from Pocasset and Cataumet.

Mastrangelo says much preparation and “due diligence” are needed before the site panel visits the conservation panel, possibly in early April. She said background information must be presented in a document showing all recent site options explored and items listed as to why the locations proved unsuitable.

She also said the proposed site is next to a residential area; something that McCollem earlier in the day said still needs to be “addressed.”

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Latest Bourne fire station site on state-protected conservation land