Agreement reached on fire station lease
Malden officials have reached an agreement with the Mystic Valley Regional charter school to extend the city's lease of the Maplewood fire station for another three years, an arrangement that will give local leaders time to identify a suitable site for a replacement station.
"We have not yet signed a formal document, but we're in agreement on all of the key points," said Mayor Richard C. Howard, noting that the new agreement will call for little, if any, increase in the $3,000 monthly rent that the city pays for use of the century-old facility.
The city sold the Maplewood fire station to the charter school in 2004 and is in the final stages of setting up a new fire station at the old Rowe Quarry, about half a mile away.
Construction of the new fire station was fully funded by the Roseland Property Co. and Lennar Urban Northeast. The developers are building 2,800 residential units on Overlook Ridge -- the 100-acre quarry site on the Malden-Revere border -- and built the $2.5 million station as part of a mitigation agreement with the two cities. Malden and Revere share the station.
Modeled in the style of a duplex, the fire station at Rowe Quarry has two identical sides, separated by a wall, so that the two departments operate as separate entities under the same roof.
"We expect to be in the new station by month's end. Right now, we're in the final stages of setting up the Internet and fiber-optics," said Howard, noting that the new fire station is too small to replace the larger, centrally located Maplewood station. The Maplewood station houses two engines; the Rowe Quarry station can only house one engine.
"Now that we have the new station, we can sharpen our focus on what we need in terms of fire equipment on that side of the city," said Howard. "We had been holding off on trying to figure out that last piece of the service puzzle."
A committee has been formed to investigate possible sites for a new Maplewood station.
Fire Chief Michael J. Murphy has said that a Maplewood station is needed to ensure that emergency response times remain reasonable. According to Murphy, the Rowe Quarry station is too far from the central fire station on Sprague Street, prompting the need for a fire station between the two.
However, the new Maplewood station would probably be smaller than the current one, a change that could save the city some much-needed cash.
The city had to make up a nearly $5 million budget gap this fiscal year, which began July 1. Malden officials expect to cover the shortfall by persuading city employees to shoulder a larger portion of their healthcare costs (negotiations are ongoing), spending about $1 million of the city's reserves, and adopting a pay-as-you-throw trash program, which is slated to go into effect in October.
