Harmony Fire District broke ground Thursday, Aug. 31 on its new $7.7 million fire station on South Main Street, butlereagle.com reported.
The fire district, which serves Harmony, Zelienople, Lancaster Township and Jackson Township, needs a larger station to accommodate a recent influx of new firefighters, as well as modern decontamination equipment designed to remove carcinogens from turnout gear and firetruck exhaust, district officials said.
The new station should open sometime in 2024, the report said.
Last Progress Report (Feb. 7, 2023) from Harmony Fire District’s Website
The Harmony Fire District has been hard at work since our last update. We have spent much of our time securing funding and value engineering the building while inflation and cost escalation have run rampant. Our building, that we were very careful to design what was inside of our budget, quickly started to look more and more difficult to complete. It seemed like every week someone was moving the goalposts further and further away, however, we persevered. We have been working with a fantastic architect, AE7, and have signed a construction manager, PJ Dick to handle the build.
We started looking everywhere for funds. We lifted every rock and called everyone we knew. After countless meetings with local elected and appointed representatives, state and even our federal representatives we have successfully secured funding for the project. We were fortunate enough to receive state funds from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, RACP, and federal funds through the appropriation program that Representative Mike Kelly was able to help us with, which ultimately was funded by the Omnibus Budget approved in late December. Between these funds, the increase in the fire tax to three mills that was approved by the municipalities in 2021, and the generosity of all of you, we are in the black and the project can continue! With these state and federal funds now involved, we must be very careful with how the project is bid, and ultimately how the project is completed. The State Funds have some very specific requirements, while the federal funds will be funneled through the USDA which also has their own set of requirements. To make sure these are completed correctly we have retained two grant compliance consultants who are subject matter experts on their respective grants. These consultants along with PJ Dicks experience with these types of programs will be the winning combination we need. Currently we are completing application portion of the USDA grant before moving forward with putting the project out to bid and beginning construction early this summer.
While there has been very little progress to be seen while driving down Main Street in Zelienople, the site will soon begin to have some activity. This week we will be placing construction fence on the site, and we are ordering a new sign that will be visible from the road. We are very excited to continue to march forward and we will be sharing much more information in the coming months as we prepare to start construction.
