Orleans Fire Rescue Committee Reviews Four Massing Concepts, Sets April 15 Select Board Presentation

ORLEANS — March 23, 2026 — Orleans fire rescue committee reviews four massing concepts, can't yet commit to a design. The Orleans Fire Rescue Building Committee met March 23 to consider four architectural massing concepts — labeled "net zero," "police station replica," "transitional," and "two gables" — for the proposed two-story fire rescue station on Eldridge Parkway, with no design selected. Architect Ted Galante told the committee he is "a lot more confident" the flat-roofed net zero concept, with its full photovoltaic roof array, can meet the project's net zero energy mandate than any of the other three options, but acknowledged it may be the least popular aesthetically; he noted a comparable 22,000-square-foot combined police-fire building in Exeter, New Hampshire required a parking solar canopy supplement even after covering its full roof in panels. DPW Director Rich Waldo and Fire Chief Jeff Deering each raised maintenance and drainage concerns about complex roof geometries, while members Mark Real and Emily Miller urged the committee not to dismiss the flat roof. The committee voted unanimously to adjourn and agreed to meet April 13 for a review session before a full presentation to the Select Board on April 15, with Galante's team tasked with producing solar energy-generation calculations, geothermal feasibility analysis, and contextual renderings of the competing concepts.