Chief Brian Stockdale of the Lewiston Fire Department stands Thursday afternoon in front of the new substation on North Temple Street that next month is to replace the current one around the corner on Sabattus Street. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

LEWISTON — The new fire substation, a long-planned replacement for the Sabattus Street station in Lewiston, is nearing completion.

If all goes to plan, members of the Fire Department staff will make the move around the corner to North Temple Street in July, where the $4.7 million substation was built this year.

The Lewiston Planning Board announced Thursday it will hold its meeting Monday at the North Temple Street site, to include a tour of the new station.

The 9,192-square-foot station was approved by the Planning Board in 2019, and construction began a year ago. It is the first of three substations to be replaced over the coming years.

Fire Chief Brian Stockdale said Fire Station 4 provides an overdue increase in space and gives firefighters “an improved quality of life, while working their ’24’ shift.”

“This station will provide the department and the community with a modern, state-of-the-art facility that has been built to last for 5o-plus years,” he said.

Features include increased garage space to better house fire apparatus, a modern gym area for firefighter physical fitness, training areas and designated gear and equipment decontamination and cleaning areas.

Stockdale said the features “positively affect the safety, health and well-being of firefighters, and will increase the efficiency of the services we provide for a long time to come.”

A study in 2017 recommended replacing the city’s fire substations on Lisbon Road and Sabattus and Main streets. The stations were all built near 1950, and evaluations showed the buildings to be inadequate for current Fire Department needs.

The city bought a 10-acre property at 55 North Temple St. for the Sabattus Street substation, and a building committee was formed to design the new station.

Great Falls Construction is the contractor.

Stockdale said the Main Street Station will be the next replacement project. He said the station was built in the early 1950s and “is sorely in need of replacement.”

During the upcoming fiscal year, which begins in July, the city will conduct the initial design process, with plans to begin construction the following fiscal year.

Building committee members have previously said the city could use the same or similar building designs for the following two substations, saving some design costs.

The funding source has been the city’s annual Capital Improvement Plan, which is bonded.