WOBURN, Mass. — Woburn officials on Wednesday described plans to build a new West Side substation, Station 5, on Gillis Field adjacent to the Reeves School and outlined the next steps in a permitting process that includes the school committee, the Conservation Commission and the City Council.

Mayor Mike On Canon said the City would seek the school committee's determination on whether the parcel is still needed for educational purposes; if the committee decides it is not, the city will proceed to conservation permitting and then seek a City Council special permit. "We would like to build the fire station on Gillis Field, but we want it to be a collaborative welcome relationship," Mayor Mike On Canon said at a public meeting to gather feedback from the Reeves School community and nearby residents.

The proposal is part of a multi-year program to modernize Woburn's fire stations. Officials said the overall funding comes from prior bond authorizations for fire-station construction: a roughly $23.5 million headquarters project and a later $30 million phase that funds two new stations and upgrades. City leaders emphasized that the construction bond covers building costs and not land purchases; because Gillis Field is city-owned school land, no separate land acquisition would be required.

Officials described the proposed Station 5 as a modest substation rather than a headquarters. Engineering and design staff said the building would be about 11,000 square feet with a footprint near 6,500 square feet, include three vehicle bays and tower and building heights of about 34 and 24 feet respectively. The closest distance from the station footprint to the corner of the Reeves site was described in the presentation as roughly 310 feet, and the entry from the station to the school about 80 feet.

Chief Ken of the fire department said the station would operate with 24-hour shifts and limited vehicle trips beyond emergency responses. "We train 2 or 3 times a year on vehicle safety," Chief Ken said, adding that vehicles use an OptiComm system to change traffic signals during responses. Officials said routine departures often do not require sirens and that crews try to minimize noise when possible.

City engineers and the consultant team said the proposed Station 5 location would sit north of wetlands and outside the wetland buffer; the team has begun preliminary conservation work and an abbreviated notice of resource area filing. The next formal step, officials said, would be a Conservation Commission notice of intent, planned for filing in November with commission review anticipated in December. The mayor and staff said the city aims to limit wetland disturbance and comply with any Conservation Commission orders of conditions.

Officials described a permitting sequence and timeline: the school committee will consider the parcel's educational need at a meeting on Oct. 29; if the parcel is released for noneducational use it would revert to city jurisdiction, then the city would file the Conservation Commission notice of intent and later seek a City Council special permit that could attach site-specific conditions such as landscaping, fencing, lighting or construction-hour restrictions. The team estimated about a 14-month construction schedule if approvals proceed on schedule and said the target substantial completion was summer 2027.

Officials also summarized alternative sites studied earlier in the program, including Whispering Hill (McElhinney La Crosse Field), the Tarki school site, Joyce Soccer Field, Gonzales Park tennis courts and Shaker Glen. Those sites were rejected for reasons including response-time modeling, topography, proximity to the 4 Corners response area and environmental permitting complexity. The team said the 4 Corners area is the primary response zone for Station 5, and that the Gillis Field location was judged favorable for response times.

Residents asked about traffic, school safety, field loss, construction noise, staging and whether construction vehicles would use adjacent neighborhood streets. Project staff said emergency vehicle access would exit directly onto Lexington Street (a state roadway) and be coordinated with MassDOT; they said routine traffic impact on school operations would be minimal and that construction routing and staging would be specified in the contractor's plan and could be restricted to avoid school arrival and dismissal times. "We can also restrict roads from entering for construction vehicles," a project presenter said.

City officials acknowledged community concern about losing recreational space. They said the school committee is collecting data on current field use and that off-site recreation improvements (a replacement field or enhancements) are possible but would require separate discussion and funding because the construction bond is earmarked for station construction. The mayor noted the city would consult the parks and recreation and conservation divisions and consider other underused fields such as Ryan Field on Russell Street as alternatives for community recreation needs.

On mitigation, staff said they will take ambient noise measurements before construction, limit heavy work hours (typically not before 7 a.m.), generally prohibit Sunday construction and require dust control and wheel washes for vehicles leaving the site. The owner's representative would provide on-site inspection during construction to enforce conditions, officials said.

The meeting included a question-and-answer period with multiple residents and neighbors, who raised concerns about pedestrian safety on adjacent streets, how the station would affect school activities, whether fences would be removed and whether the city would maintain public access to conservation areas. Officials repeatedly emphasized a desire to be "good neighbors" and said neighborhood concerns and suggestions would be considered during the City Council special-permit review, where specific conditions would be set.

For more information, officials said the project materials and the presentation are available on the City of Woburn website. Officials encouraged residents to email or appear at the upcoming school committee, conservation commission and City Council hearings to share comments.