CAPE MAY – On a chilly late November evening, Cape May City firefighters warmly welcomed the public to their new home.
Two years after the previous firehouse, built in 1975, was demolished, the ribbon was cut on Wednesday, Nov. 29, for the new station, which was the subject of a major controversy in the 2020 municipal elections.
The firehouse, on Franklin Street, is billed as a state-of-the-art facility and is just over 16,000 square feet. The facility will house all of the fire company’s equipment and apparatus, with three platoons of six persons on each shift. Cape May City has a combined fire department, with 20 career paid firefighters supported by a volunteer fire company.
During construction, the West Cape May Fire Company played host to Cape May City firefighters and equipment. Cape May City Fire Chief Alexander Coulter used the ribbon-cutting ceremony to thank the West Cape May department for its hospitality and assistance, and said the experience has forged a strong bond between the two departments that can only benefit both communities in the future.
For Mayor Zack Mullock, who is up for reelection in 2024, the ribbon-cutting represented the fulfillment of a campaign promise to construct a new firehouse at a cost of $5 million. Mullock said the original award of $5.13 million for construction of the new station was exceeded by only 2% during years of high inflation in the construction industry.
In 2020, as Mullock sought to win the mayor’s office from Clarance “Chuck” Lear, the issue of separate new fire and police facilities versus a combined public safety building was controversial enough to warrant being put to the voters in a referendum. The proposed combined public safety building was estimated to cost $15 million.
At the ribbon-cutting ceremony the mayor thanked voters for approving separate facilities and promised that the city’s next priority was construction of a new police station. He said he hopes to hear soon from the state on a proposed swap of Green Acres land that would provide a location on Lafayette Street for a new police facility.
In his remarks Mullock also pointed to the parking spaces that would have been lost to a larger public safety building on the lot and to the preservation of the city’s fire museum, which would have been demolished to make room for a larger building.
The new firehouse had its groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 21, 2021. The construction of the facility became a legacy project for City Manager Michael Voll, who assumed his office in January 2021 and has announced his retirement as of the end of 2023.
The city actually cut the ribbon before the firehouse is fully ready to absorb the firefighters and their equipment. The estimate from several of the firefighters at the event was that it would be about two months before they move in and leave West Cape May.
The new station is in an area undergoing major changes. Next door is the historic Franklin Street School, which is being renovated to serve as a home for a branch of the Cape May County library system. Across the street is the Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church, also undergoing renovation. The former church will become the home of the East Lynne Theater Company under a long lease with the city.
Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
