Chestnuthill Township supervisors are moving forward with a $7.850 million emergency services facility.

The supervisors held a public hearing earlier this month and are moving forward on funding on the building that will replace the current firehouse and bring the township’s emergency providers all into one facility.

The shared emergency facility has been in the works for Chestnuthill since 2018 and will soon break ground on the property on Route 715 across from the current fire company.

The goal of the facility is to build an emergency services facility that could also serve other neighboring municipalities in the event of a catastrophe in which emergency services in the other communities could not perform emergency operations where they usually would, Chestnuthill Township Manager said.

The 19,598-square-foot building has 13,630 square feet dedicated to the fire department and 2,781 square feet to the township’s emergency operations center. A West End Ambulance will also be housed there.

The idea came about when the original firehouse building was inspected and officials determined it was not feasible to update the building to add an emergency center.

A public hearing was held for the loan for the facility.

The maximum principal amount of the tax-exempt obligation to be issued by the township is $7.85 million, with $5,024,000 (64 percent) attributable to the fire department, and $1,648,500 (21 percent) attributable to the ambulance association.