BRISTOL — After a third public hearing in which no one spoke up about the fate of the town’s 85 Lake Street fire station, the Select Board decided to sell the building, but left the details of how to go about it for a future discussion.
The town had circulated a questionnaire at last spring’s town meeting to gauge the public’s sentiment on the disposition of the building, vacated when the new public safety building serving both the fire and police departments opened. The survey was not well-publicized and had only a few responses, selectmen admitted when resident Walter Waring appeared before them at a meeting this fall. Waring was advocating for its use a senior center.
Selectmen had been leaning toward a sale of the building, which is aging and has some structural problems. It had been built with volunteer labor from the firefighters, and held sentimental value for their families, but the question of whether it was worth an investment for repairs or would be better placed on the tax rolls is something the selectmen were weighing.
Before making a final decision, they held three public hearings to help guide their decision.
On December 5, still receiving no comment during its public hearing, the board voted to sell the building, situated on .664 acre, sandwiched between Lake Street and the Newfound River. The question was whether to sell it at auction, hire a real estate agent, or sell it by sealed bid.
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