Site formerly slated for cannabis operation eyed for Bourne fire station
BOURNE – The search committee trying to identify a location for a firehouse south of the Bourne Bridge is essentially down to one tract after first reviewing a list of seven options, even as selection of a station architect gets under way Thursday .
The top location, which may not be for sale at this point, is a four-acre parcel off Route 28 (MacArthur Boulevard) in Monument Beach. The site housed the long-closed Adventure Isle amusement center.
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The Haven Center, a recreational marijuana dispensary with a location in Provincetown, purchased the site and hoped to open a marijuana cultivation center there. However, this summer, the state Supreme Judicial Court upheld Bourne's ban on recreational marijuana shops, which Haven had appealed.
There have been no town overtures to the owners, who are listed as Circle O LLC & MacArthur Park Place LLC. The assessed valuation totals $2.5 million.
What are three other sites?
Other fire station sites are not considered as attractive.
Selectmen do not want to pay county government up to $900,000 for a tract at County Road and Dr. Julius Kelley Drive in Pocasset, when the town would use only four acres of protected geography that cannot be developed.
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South Side Fire Station Building Committee Chair Wayne Sampson said youth baseball interests are opposed to using the ballfield tract at Shore Road in Monument Beach.
Another location, a former golf driving range off the MacArthur Boulevard, was offered to the town two years ago for $2.5 million, but any firehouse there would need road construction from rear acreage to the highway. Town Administrator Marlene McCollem has said she does not want a new station situated at the end of a cul-de-sac.
Selectmen Chair Peter Meier, a search panel member, said that of the two boulevard sites, the Haven Center location is also situated close to the highway and features acceleration and deceleration lanes with a curb cut in place.
“Site clearance would be a lot easier for Haven, even [with] Adventure Isle demolition, I’d think,” Meier said. “But we don’t know if the owners want to continue with a ‘pot’ center now that the state [Supreme Judicial Court] ruled a town bylaw is valid to stop recreational sales there.”
Time to choose station architect
The search panel meets Thursday to gauge four sites again and review eight architectural firms vying to design the firehouse. One firm, Keenan & Kenny, of Falmouth designed a station for the previous search committee.
Meier said that although the town ended its contract with Keenan & Kenny, it might be less expensive to consider the Falmouth firm as willing to revise its former plan instead of “starting from scratch” with a new firm.
The committee's goal is to approach the May 2023 annual town meeting with site selection in hand and seek funds for firehouse construction. But members face site selection and suitable emergency response issues, along with overall project cost issues.
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