Orleans Fire Rescue Building Committee Schedules May Meeting Amid $60M Budget Debate

ORLEANS — April 13, 2026 — Orleans fire station budget could reach $60 million as committee weighs design and sewer questions. The Orleans Fire Rescue Building Committee received a conceptual project development budget Monday showing total costs of $52 million to $60 million for a new fire station — well above the $45 million to $50 million figure cited in earlier public discussions — as architect Ted Galante of Galante Architectural Studios presented three exterior massing concepts, updated floor plans, and favorable geotechnical results confirming conventional footings and slab-on-grade construction are viable. The $800,000 net zero premium in the draft budget covers photovoltaics and geothermal systems under a working definition — on-site renewable energy offsetting all on-site energy use — that Select Board liaison Mark Matheson said at least three Select Board members have endorsed. An unresolved sewer-versus-septic question, carrying potential cost implications for whether the site shifts east or west, remains a central design driver. The committee voted unanimously to hold an additional meeting on the first Monday in May before the Annual Town Meeting, after declining — on open meeting law grounds — to take a formal straw poll on design direction ahead of a Wednesday Select Board presentation.