This map shows the proposed location for a new 8,600-square-foot public safety building, in red, on Chebeague Island. Contributed / Town of Chebeague Island

Chebeague Island officials are considering a proposal to build a nearly $6 million public safety building that would replace the existing fire station, which does not meet essential code requirements.

A study by Port City Architecture found that the building violates Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, lacks a sprinkler system and an exhaust system. Space for vehicles is also a concern.

The proposal comes as the town has some other expensive projects on its plate, such as renovating Stone Wharf and investing in shoreline stabilization efforts.

Fire/rescue Chief Ralph Munroe said residents would have a chance to weigh in on the proposal, which includes both the new public safety building and renovations to the existing Town Hall building, the next time it comes before the Select Board. Neither he nor Town Administrator Viktoria Wood could say exactly when that will happen. The Select Board heard an update on the project at its Aug. 7 meeting.

Chebeague’s volunteer fire/rescue company serves fewer than 500 people during the fall, winter and spring, and a couple thousand during the warm months when the island’s summer community is in town, according to Wood. The fire station and Town Hall are housed in the same building at 192 North Road.

Wood said town officials so far have seen only preliminary designs. She emphasized that the project is in the very early stages, but the challenges of being an island community with an aging volunteer firefighter staff adds urgency to the project.

“Recognizing that we are an unbridged community, and (it’s not) easy for other towns to just drive over here and help us, we want to make sure that the department is staffed and has the proper equipment and machinery to be able to handle accidents if they were to happen,” Wood said, though both she and Munroe said there was no major emergency or fire that had prompted the town to push forward this project.

The Select Board formed a Facilities Committee in early 2021 to evaluate the Town Hall and fire station and to make recommendations for how they could be improved. Both Munroe and Wood are on the Facilities Committee. The town contracted with Port City Architecture, based in Portland, to put together a report with that information.

According to the report, the fire station does not meet essential requirements, and it would ultimately be more cost effective to build a new structure than to renovate the existing one.

“We’ve outgrown it,” Munroe said. “It’s tight to get the truck all in, (and) we don’t have any room for training.” Due to space constraints, they must keep their backup ambulance outside.

Besides the lack of a sprinkler system and ADA needs, the absence of an exhaust removal system in the facility means staff and equipment are exposed to fumes when vehicles are started in the garage.

The island’s Fire Department is entirely made up of volunteers, including Munroe, who administers both fire and emergency management services. Wood said the volunteer force is aging, and other Maine towns are moving toward hiring staff. Chebeague may have to go the same way, she said.

Chief Munroe said the town likely would hire per diem emergency management technicians, but the current building doesn’t have any place for an EMT to stay overnight.

According to the architect’s report, the Town Hall also lacks space for employees to work or to meet, and it lacks adequate space for sensitive files.

Port City Architecture has put together preliminary designs for an 8,600-square-foot, single-story public safety building. The building would have six apparatus bays for fire/rescue operations and would be large enough to accommodate future growth.

The plan also proposes to renovate the Town Hall involving 4,000 square feet at an estimated cost of $1.5 million. For the public safety building, Port City Architecture estimates $4.82 million in hard construction costs and $1.05 million in soft costs, for a total of $5.8 million.

“Ideally, we would hope to get as much as we can in grants, but the reality is that it’s likely we would have to bond for it,” Wood said. Bonding would require voter sign-off at a town meeting, she said. “All of this would be the decision of the taxpayers,” she said.

The proposed public safety building and enhancements to the Town Hall are not the only pressing priorities that the town has to contend with.

Chebeague Island suffered serious shoreline damage from two storms in January and is looking at spending multiple millions in shoreline stabilization work, Wood said. The federal government issued a major disaster declaration for those storms, a designation that unlocks federal assistance. Chebeague could receive some assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Wood said, but FEMA does not fully reimburse the cost of projects.

Work also needs to be done on the town’s Stone Wharf, where the ferry that travels between Chebeague Island and neighboring Cousins Island docks, where fishermen load and unload gear, and where water taxis drop people off.

“The community has outgrown (the wharf) and it needs to be raised due to sea level rise, (and) there’s no great parking solution,” Wood said. “Safety is a concern. It’s something that has been talked about for, you know, ages and ages and very little has been done.”

With all the competing priorities, Wood knows that some may be worried about the public safety building’s impact on taxes. She said the Facilities Committee wants to be mindful of that.