Groundbreaking ceremonies were held Thurs., Mar. 30 for a new main fire station in Boardman Township. The 18,000 sq. ft. facility will be constructed at Market St. and Stadium Dr. at a cost of some $3.3 million.
      About 50 persons, largely fire-fighters and township, local school and park officials attended the ceremony.
      The new station will be more than double the size of the current main fire station at Southern Blvd. and Rt. 224, that was built around 1930.
      The new facility will include living and office areas and apparatus bays.
      “We have designed a fire station that kept costs down, and yet will still be a focal point for our community,” Tom Costello, chairman of the Boardman Township Board of Trustees said, noting the township hopes to relocate to its new facility by March, 2018.
      The new fire station will be located on the site of the first Boardman High School football field, where the Spartans played in the 1930s and 1940s.
      The property was sold to Boardman Township by the local school board at a cost of approximately $225,000. In addition, as part of the deal, the township’s Board of Trustees gave the school board property off Raupp Ave., the former site of Diamond Steel. That property will become the Boardman school bus garage, and is expected to lead to the township and school system sharing fuel costs for their vehicles on the adjacent site of the Government Center.
      The new fire station will be constructed without an additional tax levy, a testament to the policies of Fiscal Officer William Leicht, and Trustees Costello, Brad Calhoun and Larry Moliterno.
      Construction of the facility will fully get underway pending the results of soil testing on the 2-acre site. J, Herbet Construction, general contractor for the project, has suggested the soil needs to be more compacted before construction begins.
      Of note, the site of the old main fire station could become a location for Get Go facility. The Tamarkin Co. has filed a request with the Ohio Department of Liquor Control for a liquor permit at that site, indicating the property could be sold to the firm.
      Monies from that sale of that property will be used for the construction of the new fire station, Fiscal Officer Leicht indicated.
      PICTURE: GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONIES WERE HELD last week for Boardman Township’s new, main fire station that will be located at the intersection of Market St. and Stadium Dr. General contractor for the $3.3 million project is J. Herbert Construction. Boardman Township Trustee Thomas Costello said he expects work on the new station to be completed by spring, 2018. Pictured is a focal point of the project, a 9-1-1 memorial that will be located near the entrance to the new station, that will honor police and firemen and the nearly 3,000 people who were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, the single largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil. Funding for the memorial is expected to be raised through a community wide, volunteer effort.