Orleans Fire Station Design Holds at $55 Million as Schematic Phase Ends

ORLEANS — June 15, 2026 — Orleans fire station project holds within $90,000 of its $55 million Town Meeting budget as schematic design wraps. The Orleans Fire Station Building Committee received a schematic design update June 15 from Pomeroy Associates project manager Rick Cienfiglione and Galanti Architecture Studio architect Paolo Carissimi, learning the cost estimate came in within approximately $90,000 of the preliminary budget figure — a result Cienfiglione called encouraging, noting the figure includes a full ground-source heat pump system and a photovoltaic solar array. The 49,000-square-foot building features a gable-roofed living quarters and administrative wing alongside a flat-roofed apparatus bay, with Cienfiglione identifying a roughly 60-foot stretch of the apparatus bay facade along Eldridge Parkway as the key remaining design challenge. Resident Tony Pearl urged cost restraint, citing a school consolidation study estimated at $67 million to $74 million and other capital demands; resident Scott Zanke calculated fill operations alone will generate more than 2,100 truck trips on Eldridge Parkway. Architect Andrew Miao, speaking as a private citizen, pressed the committee on the energy efficiency of the proposed brick-and-CMU wall system and the cost-effectiveness of the geothermal-versus-solar balance. A public charrette on building elevations is planned for the week of July 13, with $9.3 million in soft costs still to be finalized during design development.