Letter: Regarding a New Firehouse and DPW Building, Two Can Live Cheaper than One
The Amherst Department Of Public Works is housed in a 100 year old trolley barn. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The following letter was sent to Town Councilors Mandi Jo Hanneke, George Ryan, Pam Rooney and Jennifer Taub and July 26, 2025
It is good to see that there is some incremental movement on the planning for a new DPW Center but no clear path for a new Fire Center. It is interesting to note that the last report on a new Fire Station was 2006 and the estimated cost of construction was $8 million to $12 million. Today the estimate is $30 million to $35 million for each building.
This evening I measured the current DPW facility site to raise a point I have offered before. The measurement of this site is about 350 feet by 445 feet which equates to over 140,000 square feet. And to double check this, the assessment card for this property lists it at four acres. See Google aerial below.
Question
- Given the size of this property, can the Fire and DPW Centers be placed on this one site?
- At 140,000 square there should be more than enough space for a 30,000 square foot Fire Center. The 2006 report lists the Main Station at 16,000 square feet and also a Sub Station building at 14,000 square feet. Unless I am mistaken, this is a four acre site with an existing permitted use and on currently owned town land.
- A view of the Google aerial shows that there are significant portions of this property that are currently vacant or full of dormant or seasonal vehicles/ equipment that could be stored elsewhere.
- Amherst faces enormous tax revenue/budget demand deficits so every reasonable construction economy deserves fair and balanced analysis. The current estimates for two separate Fire and DPW centers is $30M each? Total $50M to $60M?
- The savings potential for building these centers either together or under one roof deserves thorough consideration.
I look forward to not just an acknowledgement of this message but some interactive response to this given that it has been raised before and the cost savings of building these centers together or under one roof is significant. As you know, our neighboring Town of Hadley has a multi-departmental public safety building and there are many other towns that do as well. Williamsburg just built an 8,000 square foot fire house for $5M.
Terence Masterson
Terence Masterson is an Amherst resident and a longtime economic development director, formerly serving Westchester County, N.Y, Cayuga County, N.Y. and currently Sturbridge MA. He also served as Deputy Mayor and Trustee, Irvington, N.Y. (1983-93, 2009-2010)
Both DPW and Fire Dept. need maintenance equipment for large vehicles and fueling facilities. Communications could also share equipment. Let’s do something smart for a change.
An excellent suggestion from someone with serious experience!
Let’s pretend Amherst was fortunate enough to have a couple of visitors from another planet. They appropriate a car and drive around town and they discover that virtually the entire town has roads similar to those on the moon. Our ET asks who’s responsible for the roads and learns it is the DPW. Then our ET learns that although Amherst spends only $2 million per annum on their roads, they want to spend $34 million for a new building to house the DPW people and machinery responsible for the roads. He learns that it is an old building supposedly in need of replacement, but he notices it is made of brick and wonders why the town doesn’t just spend 5 million renovating the part of the building where humans work, and re-weatherize the part where the machines sleep. Then the town can spend $15 million on the roads and keep the other $15 million in the bank. He goes to town hall to mention it to the council and town manager, and everyone just looks at him like he’s from outer space….
Michael, have you ever toured the DPW barn, the only town structure not built for its purpose? I ask because of your comment about an ET from another planet learning that the building is old and “supposedly in need of replacement”. This sounds to me like someone who has never toured the terminally ill building or had to work in one. I imagine that without either experience an ET would not be likely to understand the dangerous conditions under which so many of our public servants spend many hours, including those when residents are asleep or enjoying their weekends off.
BTW, DPW employees work throughout the building, some with shared desks year-round in the garage where there is no HVAC. This, sometimes, while water runs down through ceiling lights and along black mold-covered walls, is where they also do in-house repairs while the equipment is sleeping.
If he/she/they had the time here to learn more, the ET might wonder why the many, many millions for the oversized, overpriced Jones Library project wasn’t put instead to road and sidewalk repair, especially as the library had been determined to be at the bottom of the list for capital expenditure.
MIchael –
Your comments about the cost of a new DPW building are very worthy. The $30M building estimate is apparently just an estimate not based on any professional study. And in Hadley MA the estimates for their planning for a DPW Facility is $18M according to the Gazette. And perhaps a professional research study might identify lower costs forms of construction. As an example, in the past 18 months I have watched the construction of two commercial steel frame buildings in nearby towns. I doubt that they cost $30M. While they are much smaller, the new Williamsburg Fire House is 8,000 square feet and cost $5M. And the new Hadley Library cost $8M. Granted these are smaller buildings but worth analyzing their lower costs.
SHARED SERVICES – If we were in New York State the odds are that Hadley and Amherst would be building a DPW Center together and save dollars. But while shared services are common in New York they are not here. Hampshire County once had a regional municipal council called the COG or Council of Governments but that was shut down in 2021. It is so worthwhile to have the towns in any given county meet, talk, plan and work toward common goals. This is why county governance is so worthwhile. I don’t know about ET but having grown up in the Hudson Valley’s Sleepy Hollow region I know all about Rip Van Winkle! We are sleeping and not studying. And not working together as a community with all of the intellectual talent that Amherst has.
The funding for road repair and paving comes from the Town Management. All the DPW is set up to do is patch, mow the sides of the road, fix catch basins etc. They have an engineering division that decides and manages designs and what’s next but they have to work with what they get. The Water & Sewer Divisions are better off because they are Enterprise Funds. Major paving projects are always delegated to the likes of Warner Brothers, Taylor Davis etc.
The DPW does not get enough money to do what is necessary to fix our roads. Until they do, enjoy the potholed roads. You’re going to get quite the Library though!
The reason the DPW & Fire Departments are always kinda bummed out is because the Library example is always what happens. They are always picked last. 2 million for North Common, probably millions for the Center intersection, not much for the roads beyond the Center of Town. Only the very worst getting done….maybe.
Thank you all for the comments on my frivolous letter. Obviously Terrence Masterson is THE person most qualified on this–if only the town would consult with him, we’d be on a better course for certain. I HAVE been in the DPW several times and it is indeed a travesty and I don’t envy the workers’ situation there–which is precisely why I recommended $5 million to rehab the place. As far as the DPW not paving roads, I DO understand that the money for that comes from the Town, which is why I suggested the town give the DPW $15 mil for the roads, $5 mil for the building, and not waste $36 mil on a new building.
Regarding the Library, I wrote several letters to the Bulletin about that ridiculousness before the observer existed to my knowledge. My wife, who spend many many hours there over the years–both with our son and staging an art show–said: “why would they ruin that beautiful building when all they need to do is renovate the basement”? Nuff said…
Terence Masterson for Town Council . Consider it Terence . You have a lot to contribute.