22 December, 1990 (~estimated)
Groundbreaking Set For New Firehouse Of Mercer Engine Co.
Ground will be broken this Wednesday, March 6, at noon in the parking lot next to the Valley Road building for the new firehouse for Mercer Engine Co. No. 3.
Borough and Township officials will participate in the long-awaited ground breaking ceremony, along with members of the Princeton Fire Department. Construction is expected to be completed in December, and at that time, Mercer Engine Co. No. 3 will move from the Chamber Street firehouse to the new building. No decision has been made as to the disposition of the Chambers Street firehouse.
Fulmer and Wolfe are the architects for the new firehouse, which was a top priority item in a study of the needs of the Princeton Fire Department made in 1985 and known as the Shand Report. The general contractor for the $1.63 million structure is C.J.M. Contractors of Newfield.
The steel-framed building will be two stories high and contain 13,700 square feet in floor area. It will have a brick and stone exterior to resemble the former Valley Road School, which now houses municipal and Board of Education offices.
On the ground floor will be four engine bays, a recreation room, kitchen and bar, with toilet rooms and support spaces. The second floor has a dispatcher control room with a view up and down Witherspoon Street, a meeting room, men’s and women’s bunk rooms, an office and a physical fitness room.
There will be a 30-foot space between the firehouse and the Valley Road building to allow emergency vehicle access to the large lot behind the building, where school buses are parked. During construction, municipal and school employees and workers will park in the spaces allotted to them across the street in the Community Park pool parking lot and also in the Township-owned lot next to the police station.
A few spaces have also been reserved in the Community Park pool lot for visitors and those with business tti conduct at the municipal offices. Anticipating parking problems during the firehouse construction, Township Committee adopted an ordinance setting time limits on these spices and allowing fines for infractions earlier in the year During the months that the pool and tennis complex are not in operation _these temporary parking measures are expected to handle the parking needs of employees, construction workers and visitors fairly well.
During the summer months, school buses will be moved from behind the building to another location to free up additional spaces.