An architect for the proposed fire station for Western Salisbury Volunteer Fire Company has been chosen.

By a 3-0 vote, with one commissioner absent and one seat vacant, the Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners accepted the proposal for the fire station from Steven J. Elton Architect, 3245 Center St., Bethlehem.

Commissioner Rodney Conn moved, seconded by Commissioner James Seagreaves, to bring the motion up for a vote at the Sept. 26 township meeting.

Conn, Seagreaves and board of commissioners Vice President Debra Brinton voted to approve the architect’s proposal.

Commissioner Joanne Ackerman did not attend the meeting. The seat of former board president Robert Martucci Jr., has not been filled.

The proposal as approved includes a $120,000 payment to Elton’s firm for architecture services.

Elton made a presentation at the meeting and met with representatives of Western Salisbury Volunteer Fire Company after the meeting.

There is no timetable, as of deadline for this edition of The Press, for the Western fire station project, which is expected to require review by the township planning commission and zoning hearing board.

In approving the architect, commissioners opted to not renovate the Swain Station, 950 S. Ott St. The Swain Station, built in 1972, has three vehicle bays and offices.

Instead, the township will build a new station on a portion of land at nearby Green Acres Park in the vicinity of Green Acres Drive and Andrea Drive.

The new fire station, estimated to cost $2 million to $2.5 million, may have four vehicle bays, meeting rooms, bunk space and showers.

“The construction committee of our fire company asked me to serve as liaison,” Jerry Royer, a Western Salisbury trustee, said to commissioners following their vote.

After the meeting, Salisbury Township Business Director of Finance Paul Ziegenfus, when asked by a reporter for The Press how the fire station construction would be financed, said the township would apply to the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program.

According to the USDA website, Program 101 “provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas.”

An “essential community facility” is defined as “a facility that provides an essential service to the local community.”

Examples of “essential community facilities,” states the USDA website, include “public safety services such as fire departments, police stations, prisons, police vehicles, fire trucks, public works vehicles or equipment.”

Rural areas, according to the USDA website, include “cities, villages, townships and towns with no more than 20,000 residents,” based on the latest U.S. Census Data.

According to data from the Census Bureau released in December 2017, Salisbury Township has a population of 13,697 residents.

USDA funding can include low-interest direct loans, grants or a combination of the two and these could be combined with commercial financing. Funding is provided on a competitive basis.

In his presentation, Elton, a volunteer fireman for Hanover Township Volunteer Fire Company, Northampton County, said, “I’m at the fire station 250 times a year, so I know how they run.”

Elton has been a volunteer firefighter for Hanover for 37 years since 1982. He is also a fire marshal. He has served as the Hanover fire chief.

Elton said his firm has done architecture work for 20 fire stations.

According to the website for Elton Architect, fire company, emergency services and police department clients of the firm include: Hanover Township Volunteer Fire Co No. 1, Han-Le-Co Volunteer Fire Company, Fountain Hill Emergency Squad, Levittown Fire Company Station 13, Upper Saucon Fire Department, Hecktown Volunteer Fire Company, West Easton Fire Company, Freemansburg Fire Company, Freemansburg Police Department, Plainfield Fire and Ambulance, Missouri Valley Fire Department, Yardley-Makefield Fire Company, West Catasauqua Fire Company, Bushkill Township Volunteer Fire Company, East Allen Township Volunteer Fire Department, Nancy Run Fire Company, Far Hills - Bedminster Fire Department, Whitehall Fire Department, Catasauqua Fire Department, Catasauqua Police Department, Citizens Hose Company, Fire and Safety Services LTD., Pen Argyl Fire Company, Westampton Township Emergency Services, N.J. and Palmerton Fire Department.

Western Salisbury Volunteer Fire Company Fire Chief Joshua G. Wells told a reporter for The Press after the meeting the Swain Station “has mold issues.”

Western has been holding its meetings at the Eisenhower Station, 3425 Eisenhower Road.

Of the township’s decision to build and own a new Western fire station, rather than pay for renovations of the Swain Station, Wells added, “This was part of the emergency services study. The township will build the station as it did for Eastern Salisbury in 1989 so the township will own both stations.”

The Salisbury Township Emergency Services Study was completed by Duane Hagelgans, of Duane Hagelgans Consulting, Lancaster. He briefed township commissioners, administrators and a township municipal building meeting room filled with township volunteer firemen at the Feb. 28 meeting workshop. Copies of the 142-page report were provided to commissioners and are available to the public.

Concerning facilities, Hagelgans said Feb. 28: “You own one building [Eastern Salisbury Fire Company]. You may own another [Western Salisbury Fire Company].

“My suggestion is that the township builds the new fire station. They own one. Why not own the other?” Hagelgans said.

The Eisenhower Station, on three-quarters of an acre, was built in 1959 and has two vehicle bays, where Western’s vintage 1965 GMC American LaFrance Fire Engine is stored and a training room.

Plans are to sell the Western Salisbury Eisenhower property.

Before the vote to approve the Elton architect proposal, none of the commissioners nor members of the audience had questions.

Western Salisbury Volunteer Fire Company is observing its 60th anniversary this year.

A decision on the future of the Swain Station property has not been decided.