Bowmanstown Borough Council announced that the LSA Program did not fund the request for fire station improvements.

Councilwoman Kara Scott said the fire department was looking for borough involvement to participate and move their office to a new facility, and that they are reapplying.

In April, council authorized submittal of a redevelopment assistance capital budget program grant for the fire company.

Contacted this morning, borough fire Chief Michael Spairana Jr. said the fire department plans to stay the course.

“It’s a no-go for this round,” Spairana said. “And we intend to reapply every year until we get funding.”

Spairana added, “We are talking to their fire committee about the possibility of the borough and the fire company going into the same building.

“There’s a lot of discussion that goes into that; nobody has agreed to this,” he said.

Spairana said he believes that would be a benefit.

“If we combine forces into the same building, I think that would benefit everybody, the community, fire company, borough; everybody would have a brand-new structure to go into,” he said. “It would address a lot of deficiencies that we both (the fire company and borough hall) are experiencing now.”

Spairana said this is a long-term project.

“This is like a five-year thing,” he said. “I’m convinced this is going to take three to five years until we get all the funding we need to move ahead with this project.”

Spairana said last month the only grant the fire department has applied for so far to help fund the project is the Monroe County LSA grant.

In September, the fire company requested council’s approval to apply for an LSA grant to build a new fire station with the possibility of an attached social hall.

The proposed plan would be for the new station to be located above the picnic grove on Lime Street.

The existing fire station would be torn down and made into a parking lot.

The estimated cost of the project is between $1.5 million and $1.6 million, and wouldn’t reach completion for about three to five years.

The plan is to build one large fire station, and to apply for an LSA grant to fund the entire project.

Spairana stressed that the fire company would not go forward with a new fire station unless it receives 100% funding.