NEWBURY, Vt. — Voters will decide in March whether to approve a $700,000 bond to fund the construction of a new fire station at the same Chapel Road site as the current station.

The cost for the entire project is projected to be $1.2 million, Selectboard member Jeff McKelvey said by phone Tuesday.

Some of the money will come from an existing building reserve fund.

The bond, if approved, would make up the difference.

The bond is expected to add $52.80 to the tax bill for a property assessed at $200,000, according to information the town sent to voters. 

The original station was built in the mid-1930s and was a one-bay structure, Newbury Fire Chief John Renfrew said by phone Wednesday.

In about 1972, two more truck bays were added on to the building. 

“If we had to buy a new truck right now it would have to be custom made,” McKelvey said, because the station was designed for trucks that were smaller than today’s fire apparatus.

A new station with bays large enough to accommodate modern fire trucks would allow the department to save money in the long term by purchasing used vehicles.

“In order to be in the market for any pre-owned vehicles you need to have a station that’s equipped to house them,” he said. “There’s a lot of cost savings there.”

The proposed new station would include three larger-sized truck bays as well as a meeting and training room, expanding the footprint of the existing structure. It is likely that the adjacent recycling center would need to be reconfigured to account for the larger fire station. according to town information. 

Construction would begin in April, with completion planned for the fall. 

The fire department is an all-volunteer force of about a dozen firefighters, according to McKelvey. It responds to roughly 40 calls per year. 

There will be no discussion of the fire station bond at Town Meeting, McKelvey said. Residents interested in discussing the bond proposal should attend a public information session on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. in the Newbury Village Hall.

Newbury’s Town Meeting will take place at the Newbury Village Hall on Tuesday, March 4 at 10 a.m. Voting on the fire station bond article will be by Australian ballot, with polls open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. that day.

Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com or 603-727-3208.