Planning commission reviews adaptive reuse plan to convert New Baltimore fire hall to contractors’ office and technical school

Planning staff presented a two-part application to adapt the former New Baltimore Fire Hall at 5303 and 5317 Lee Highway for combined uses: a contractor’s office/shop and an indoor/outdoor technical training school, plus a special permit to allow a business office in the adjacent former residence.

Ms. Worley, planning staff, described the parcels as 3.68 acres in the village of New Baltimore within the R-1 residential zoning district. She said the fire hall’s first floor (visible from Lee Highway) would be used as a contractor’s office and storage for Brothers Mechanical Services with an 08:30–20:00 Monday–Saturday schedule and four full‑time employees. The basement level facing Grays Mill Road would be used as a technical school with two daily class sessions (a daytime and an evening session); each class, she said, would separate a 4‑hour lecture and 4‑hour lab, with up to three instructors per session and a future goal of up to 25 students per session.

Worley said…