Norwich
State officials last month received a complaint that firehouse workers were entering the building through hard hat areas and that the adjacent construction area lacked nighttime lighting, according to a July 28 letter from the Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration to Fire Chief Steve Leinoff.
Rather than propose any penalty, VOSHA asked the fire department to “investigate the alleged conditions and make any necessary corrections or modifications.”
Leinoff responded three days later with photos documenting the site.
Although the front exit toward Firehouse Lane was not a hard hat area, the rear — toward the construction site — was, he said. The fire department has added a “Hard Hats Required” sign and a motion-activated light on the rear door, he said.
“This project will have dynamic safety concerns as the building progresses,” he said. “ … We have weekly construction meetings and will evaluate safety needs as things progress.”
Meanwhile, town officials also have been working to address concerns from abutting residents of Norwich Senior Housing, a Section 8 affordable residence for seniors.
Municipal and senior housing officials recently co-signed a “letter of understanding” that outlines the efforts town leaders will make to reduce the impact on residents.
The town already has agreed to most of those steps, including adding shrubs to block residents’ view of the station — which likely will happen in the spring — and shifting the building away from vulnerable trees.
Town Manager Herb Durfee said the board of the Norwich Housing Corporation, which controls the development, had asked for those promises to be made in writing as part of discussions to secure a town water easement over senior housing property.
“They knew that we had talked about a couple different issues, but they sort of wanted to formalize it,” Durfee said.
Town leaders also involved senior housing residents in choosing the new police station’s color.
A proposed yellowish shade drew objections, and officials and neighbors eventually chose a neutral color called “cobblestone” for the siding and a green “heathered moss” for the highlights.
Residents this week expressed a combination of distress and resignation over the size and appearance of the project, knowing that it largely would go forward in its planned form.
“I think it is fair to say we are having to do deep grief work,” Mary Fowler, a senior housing resident who has brought concerns to the Selectboard, said in a Monday email. “We are all 100 percent supportive of the police having new quarters. I know residents who have summoned police assistance during various personal crises, and we are very grateful they are nearby. We pass them in their parking lot from time to time, when passing cross-lots through their premises, and our mutual greetings are always warm.
“We never anticipated anything like this, however. We hardly know what to do with our grief. Over both the process, and the actual massiveness of the new building.”
In other capital facilities business, Selectboard members on Wednesday night are scheduled to discuss upcoming repairs to the public works garage off New Boston Road.
The public works improvements once were tied to the police and fire renovations, but town officials separated the two projects after securing federal funding for the garage.
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.