New fire house?
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
Cherry Hill Sun
2/29/2008

Fire District hopes to allay residents’ fears and detail plan for new station construction March 7

The Cherry Hill Fire District is extending an invitation to all residents near a district-owned subdivision in Garden State Park to discuss concerns regarding future plans to construct a fire station on that parcel of land.

Fire Chief Robert Giorgio said invitations were sent to residents living near the fire district-owned parcel of land between Crescent and Third avenues for a meeting at the township community center on March 7, at 7 p.m. The fire district will be detailing its plans for a new fire station at the parcel and will discuss any concerns residents may have of the process.

“We try to give residents near a possible fire station site an opportunity to voice their immediate concerns. A general meeting for all of the township residents will be held sometime after the March 7 meeting,” Giorgio said. “Our goal is to have the public fully advised and briefed on our plans before anything actually happens. It’s a shame we had to start off with such a discrepancy with this situation.”

The discrepancy Giorgio mentioned was a notice of public hearing last week sent out to all residents within 200 feet of the proposed site. Turnberry Cherry Hill, LLC, made an application to the Cherry Hill Planning Board for a minor subdivision approval for the lot. Because the development group made this request, the planning board sent a public hearing notice to residents for a meeting held on Feb. 19.

However, Giorgio said the development group requested the application without the fire district’s knowledge. As a result, no representatives from the fire district were present at the meeting, which was attended by numerous residents who had questions regarding the new station.

“Had we known there would be a public meeting on this matter, we would have moved our meeting with the public up to keep our residents informed,” Giorgio said. “We knew Turnberry was going to make some adjustments to the lot, but we didn’t know this required a public hearing.”

As a result, Giorgio said the fire district sent letters of apology to residents who attended the Feb. 19 meeting and invited them to the March 7 meeting.

Phil Sharmin, a resident who lives within 200 feet of the proposed parcel of land and attended the Feb. 19 meeting, said he was disappointed with the township’s decision to build a station at this area. He said the township’s original plan for the parcel was to preserve the existing wooded area and create several connecting walking paths.

“We’re getting tired of this, because the original plan for this piece of land never included a fire station,” Sharmin said. “Plans for this piece of land are changing and changing. We’re just tired of it.”

According to the notice of public hearing sent to residents by Turnberry Cherry Hill, LLC, “Lot 7 fronting on Third Avenue was previously subdivided from the GSP parcel and reserved for dedication to the township for the eventual construction of a new fire station.

“This subdivision was approved by the Planning Board on June 24, 2002.”

Giorgio provided The Sun with a copy of the notice.

Historically, before a fire station is built in the township, Giorgio said the district meets with members of the public to discuss plans and address any concerns the residents may have with the future station.

“I can’t speak for the public, but I’ve been through this process many times. When members of the public hear exactly how the station will be constructed and how it will operate, it resolves many of their issues,” he said. “We review every detail about the building itself. We talk to residents about how the station operates, noise levels, how the firefighters perform their tasks, how the apparatus departs for calls, we let them know everything we do.

“We’ll sit down with people who come to the meeting and work with them to figure out how we can resolve their issues.”

Its proximity to Route 70, Haddonfield Road and Chapel Avenue made the land an advantageous location for a new fire station, Giorgio said, because response units would have access to major roadways to keep response times to a minimum.

It’s unknown how much the fire station will cost to construct, Giorgio said, but the district is planning on spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million based on the 2006 construction costs of the Kingston fire station.

Giorgio said he was looking forward to the March 7 meeting as an opportunity to allay any concerns residents may have of the future fire station.

“Having a fire or EMS station close by is a great public good, but getting it off the ground is usually a period of concern because residents are concerned about what it will mean for their quality of life,” he said.

“We’re good neighbors. The fire fighters are there to lend a hand when people need it, and we conduct ourselves very professionally.”