SOUTH RIVER–The Borough Council approved a resolution authorizing CME Associates to provide bid phase services for the demolition of the George Street Firehouse.
Borough Administrator Art Londensky said, “The plans are to demolish it because part of the building was unsafe, that is why we needed the new firehouse. The floor [at the George Street Firehouse] was structurally unsafe and it didn’t meet any of the criteria for a safe and efficient firehouse. It didn’t have adequate sanitary facilities, it didn’t have any showers, it only had two towels. It didn’t have sleeping areas [but] everything was incorporated into the new building.”
The council approved the resolution authorizing CME Associates to provide engineering services for preparing bid documents and specifications in the amount of $8,660 on Feb. 11 during the council meeting.
Londensky said the firehouse has been in the borough for approximately 100 years and is located at the corner or George and Thomas streets.
At one time the George Street Firehouse was the only firehouse for the borough’s fire department. Then, in the 1960s, the borough built a second station for one of the fire companies on the other side of the borough, according to Londensky.
The new firehouse, Station One, opened in July 2017 and is located at 88 Jackson St.
“The resolution was for our engineer to perform the environmental study, which you have to do for any demolition and to prepare specifications to go out to bid,” Londensky said. “We haven’t gone out to bid and the plan, of course, is to provide more adequate parking for the police station. At this point right now that’s what I know [about] the plan: they don’t have adequate parking and they want to have secured parking.
“Everything is going to depend on the environmental study. If the environmental study comes up that the site needs to be cleaned then that has to be added to bid specs. At this point, we are just preparing the specifications, but we don’t have a date to go out for bid yet,” Londensky said.
For more information, visit www.southrivernj.org/agendas/council/.
Contact Vashti Harris at vharris@newspapermediagroup.com.
