The building at 346 Bedford Street, which holds Lakeville’s town offices and fire department, should be renovated to house only the town offices, consulting firm Socotec said in its feasibility study presentation at Tuesday’s Select Board meeting at the Lakeville Public Library.

The town would build a new fire department at a separate location if it follows Socotec’s advice. A renovated town hall would fit all town departments in the same building.

Jennifer Dos Santos and Riana Burton, who carried out the feasibility studies for Socotec, presented their findings to the Select Board at the Lakeville Public Library. Dos Santos pointed out that the town has grown, so the town hall needs to, too.

Select Board Chair Richard LaCamera expressed surprise at the town hall’s proposed price, but was not shocked at the proposed price of the fire station based on costs of nearby stations. Town hall renovations would cost $10.9 million, while the new fire station would cost $16.3 million.

“You could build a new town hall for those kinds of numbers,” LaCamera said.

Dos Santos and Burton recommended the town allocate $415,000 to hire a design team. November’s Special Town Meeting will have an article about allocating the design funds, according to the presentation’s preliminary timeline.

Socotec’s inspection report said the building in its current state does not have the necessary space to contain the town staff in one location. The report also stated that the current fire station would require “significant demolition” to accommodate the fire department’s needs.

Burton said that the ceilings of the apparatus bay—where the fire department’s trucks and heavy machinery are kept—are too short to make the building worth preserving for the fire department.

“It can be hard to get vehicles out if, in some cases literally, you have an inch on either side,” Dos Santos said. “Sometimes firefighters’ clothing gets caught in the apparatus bay as they’re moving around.”

Burton and Dos Santos proposed three parcels of land where the town could build a new fire station. Two are near the police station on Bedford Street; one parcel can be accessed directly from Bedford Street, while the other is accessible only from the Ted Williams Camp entrance road off of Bedford Street. 

Socotec prefers the third parcel, on Precinct Street near the Council on Aging, which Socotec prefers to avoid Bedford Street traffic.

Lakeville fire chief Michael O’Brien spoke of the need for a new station last month. The building was built in 1894 and the City of Taunton used it as a water pumping station. Lakeville started using it as the town hall and fire department in 1953.

“When you see some of these new fire stations, the layout makes absolute sense,” said Select Board Member Evagelia Fabian. “Not just for quick departures—which save lives—but to get back in and clean up.”

Socotec reported water infiltration in the 346 Bedford building’s basement. The building has no elevator or chairlift to upper floors, no reception area, and a basement mechanical room doubles as a storage closet. The report provided photos and stated that “many of the documents” stored in the basement received water damage.

“What we had 20 years ago was perfectly acceptable for our town, but now we have bigger buildings, we have apartment buildings, and the town has grown,” Fabian said.