City seeks school committee OK to build Fire Station 5 on Gillis Field next to Reeves School

The Woburn mayor and public-safety team asked the Woburn School Committee on Oct. 14 to declare a portion of Gillis Field — the open space adjacent to the Reeves School — no longer needed for educational purposes so the city can construct a new Fire Station 5.

The request would allow the city to build a three-bay, model fire station on school‑owned property the city controls; city presenters said the station design has a roughly 6,500‑square‑foot footprint (about 11,000 square feet total), a 34‑foot tower and a dedicated vehicle entrance on Lexington Street. The city said the project is funded from a previously approved bond authorization that added $30 million to the fire‑station program, and that Station 5 is expected to cost about $14–$15 million as part of that package.

The city said the current Station 5 location is inadequate for a modern facility and that the Gillis Field site best meets response‑time and siting criteria. "We believe that we can work with this committee to co‑locate and to have this fire station operate smoothly next door to the Reeves School," the mayor told the committee. Fire department officials said response times and firefighter safety require a new West Side station.

City project staff and the fire chief walked the committee through early site details and a preliminary schedule: the conservation commission ANRAD (abbreviated notice of resource area) has been filed, the city plans to file a formal notice of intent mid‑November, the project team expects to finish cost estimating and design development in the fall, go to bid in spring and mobilize construction around the end of school in June, with about a 14‑month construction period. City staff said most construction activity would be confined to the station parcel and that the station’s three apparatus vehicles would have a separate driveway; firefighters work 24‑hour shifts (8 a.m.–8 a.m.), which the city said would mean only a small number of non‑emergency car movements onto the school site.

Committee members pressed for details about how the station would affect Reeves operations. Vice Chair Ellen Chisholm asked about fences, preservation of the Gillis monument and sound‑proofing options for classrooms that serve students with sensory issues. Superintendent Dr. Crowley and Director of Student Services Dr. Ryan told the committee the Reeves currently enrolls a large special‑education population: the superintendent reported 141 preschool students (66 of them students with disabilities) and Dr. Ryan said the Reeves houses about 132 students with disabilities. Dr. Ryan stressed the district would need mitigation steps for sensory impacts during both construction and operations.

City solicitor Mark Salvaty told the committee the legal step the School Committee must take is a determination under Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40, Section 3, that a portion of the property is no longer needed for educational use; if the committee so determines, the portion would remain in city care and custody and the city could pursue permits and construction. Salvaty said no deed or subdivision would be necessary as part of that vote.

Committee members asked that the city and school administration work together on neighborhood outreach and specific mitigations. The committee voted to direct the superintendent to notify Reeves families, collect their concerns and publicize the city’s community meeting; the committee did not take the Chapter 40, Section 3 determination that would formally release the land at the Oct. 14 session and indicated it will place the legal vote on a future agenda after receiving community feedback and additional technical details from the city.

Several procedural and permitting steps remain: conservation commission review, a city special‑permit/public hearing process, and coordination with MassDOT for any curb cut on Lexington Street. City staff said they would also look for ways — where contract and bond constraints allow — to fund safety and circulation improvements at the Reeves entrance and other site cleanup as part of the project.

Committee members said they supported the idea of a new station but wanted the Reeves community to be fully informed and to have input on fencing, circulation changes and classroom noise mitigation. The mayor and project team said they were willing to work with the committee on reasonable measures to reduce impacts for students and staff.

If the School Committee later votes that the portion of Gillis Field is not needed for educational use under Chapter 40, Section 3, the city would proceed with permitting and construction steps described by the project team; the committee did not set a final date for that legal vote during the Oct. 14 meeting.