By Carol Britton Meyer

The Community Preservation Committee spent a large portion of Monday night’s nearly two-hour meeting focused on the proposed Village Fire Station renovation project.

Under the historic preservation category of the Community Preservation Act, the proposal seeks $1.5 million for the next phase of the proposed reconstruction, which would likely be bonded over a number of years. The town is seeking to restore the deteriorating building at 129 Spring St., which was the first town hall and school and is located in the Hull Village Historic District. The building is currently used as a satellite fire station on the first level and the Hull Historical Society’s archives and museum are located on the second floor.

There was a general consensus among CPC members that they would like to see a detailed list of what work is included in the $1.5 million request, and information about how much of the time the building is used by the Hull Fire Department, including during severe storms when the area sometimes floods and an ambulance is stationed there.

Concerns were voiced about how potentially moving forward with such a high-cost project would take away from funding for other worthy historic preservation projects, and that if taxpayer-funded Community Preservation Act money is used for this project, there should be some kind of public access and educational or other benefit.

CPC member Jim Richman thinks the funding should come out of the town budget.

“Why isn’t the town fixing the building? It hasn’t been taken care of for years,” he said. “I have a problem with the town coming to us for funding.”

Community Development and Planning Director Chris Dilorio, speaking about the proposal on behalf of the town, explained that CPA funds may be used for restoration of town-owned historic buildings.

“If we don’t repair the building now, it will fall into further disrepair,” he said.

CPC member Nathan Peyton said he was having a tough time understanding why CPA money is considered to be the right funding source, and encouraged more creative thinking on this subject. “It wouldn’t have to be all or everyday access to the building, but I think we would need to explain the value beyond a restoration” to Hull citizens, he said.

When initially garnering voter support for instituting the CPA surcharge in Hull several years ago, “we promised quality of life investments that would otherwise go unfunded,” Peyton recalled.

The Village Fire Station “should [be turned into] a museum,” Richman said, if the request for CPA funding were to move forward.

While Dilorio thinks the committee’s desire for public access to the building if it were to be restored using CPA funds makes sense, “we’d have to figure out how to make it work,” he said.

The committee plans to invite Town Manager Philip Lemnios, Town Accountant Michael Buckley, and Fire Chief Christopher Russo to its Jan. 9 meeting to explain the details of the application and to respond to the committee’s questions.

Following the lengthy discussion, Chair Rachel Kelly said that she hoped the meeting “puts a little fire under the town” to realize that the CPC won’t consider supporting the requested amount without further discussion.