Funding request for Blue Hill fire station clears first hurdle
Fire department also receives “thank you” donation from Toddy Pond Association
The Town of Blue Hill is advancing plans for a new public safety building at 30 Tenney Hill. The site was formerly the George Stevens Academy Hinckley Dorm property. The Rising Tide file photo.
April 28, 2026
By Tricia Thomas
BLUE HILL—Blue Hill fire chief John Chapman told the town’s select board on May 11 that a pending application for federal funding for a new public safety building on Tenney Hill has cleared the first hurdle in the approval process.
Chapman said he had received a call from Maine senator Susan Collins’ office earlier that day, informing him that the town’s application for $3.4 million in federal funding, sent simultaneously to Collins and senators Angus King and Jared Golden in March, would now advance to a U.S. Senate appropriations subcommittee for further consideration.
“Today, in my capacity as the point-of-contact for the Congressionally Directed Spending [application], I received a phone call at 11:45 a.m. informing us that we had advanced to the second round,” Chapman said, to applause from the select board.
“What that means is, Senator Collins advanced our name—and I haven’t heard from (Senators King and Golden) yet—but Senator Collins advanced our name to the [Transportation, Housing and Urban Development] appropriations subcommittee for consideration of CDS spending for 2027,” Chapman added.
An announcement in writing is expected from Collins’ office later this week, Chapman said. Collins’ website lists the project as moving forward, along with two similar fire station projects in Castine and Sullivan. They join dozens of proposed capital improvement projects being considered for funding throughout the state.
Further news on the application may take a few months, Chapman said.
“I’m anticipating hearing about the next round sometime before September,” he said.
If ultimately approved, the $3.4 million in CDS funding would be disbursed in 2027, and will pay for roughly half of the project. Last month, Blue Hill voters approved a $1.5 million loan to match the requested federal funding, and last year approved spending $1.8 million to purchase the nearly 17-acre property, along with another parcel on High Street, from George Stevens Academy. Both of those town expenditures have been included in the total cost of the project, estimated at $6,785,000.
When completed, the new facility will replace an aging, 60-year-old fire and EMS station on Water Street that no longer meets modern fire and emergency standards. The one-story building, once used as a garage, is not suitable for renovation or expansion to meet the town’s growing need for emergency services, Chapman has said in previous interviews.
The new, five-bay building will provide ample space for fire department and ambulance corps rigs and equipment, and an existing dormitory on the site also will be converted to bunk, meeting and office space for fire and emergency crews, as well as visiting state police and county sheriffs.
If the funding is approved, construction at the site could begin as early as next spring, and be completed in about 18 months.
Donation from Toddy Pond Association
In related news, the Toddy Pond Association donated $500 to the Blue Hill fire department on May 11 as a “thank you” to the town for its support of the group’s campaign for public ownership of the Toddy Pond dam. The current owner of the dam, AIM/Bucksport Mill LLC, has petitioned the state to relinquish ownership of the aging concrete structure, which would trigger its dismantling. That dismantling, critics have said, would have far-reaching, adverse effects on the lake and surrounding natural environment. It also would negatively affect property values and, in turn, erode the tax bases in each of the towns surrounding it, which include Blue Hill, Orland, Penobscot and Surry.
Voters in each of the towns agreed, and last year approved—by solid majorities—the formation of the Toddy Pond Watershed Management District to repair and maintain the dam once it’s turned over.
Jeff Roth, a Toddy Pond homeowner and spokesperson for the association, said that similar donations are being made to fire departments in each of the towns.
Jeff Roth, spokesperson for the Toddy Pond Association (left), presents a "thank you" donation to the the town of Blue Hill and its fire department on May 11. The $500 donation was presented to Blue Hill fire chief John Chapman (right) in gratitude for the town's support of the planned takeover of the Toddy Pond dam. Photo by Tricia Thomas.
“The Toddy Pond Association, and it’s approximately 500 members, really wanted to thank each of the four towns for their support of ‘Saving Toddy,’ ” Roth said in a statement.
Contributing to the fire departments in each town seemed appropriate, Roth told Chapman and the select board on May 11.
“We thought that was fitting because the fire departments—and all the men and women who work to support the fire departments—not only protect the owners around Toddy Pond, but they protect all of the residents of each one of those towns,” Roth said before presenting the check. Fire departments in Blue Hill, Penobscot and Surry also help Orland’s department by pumping and transporting water from their pond access points to help fight local fires, he added.
Roth was joined in the presentation by association vice president Phil Roberts and president Marc Restuccia, who also heads the new watershed management district.
Restuccia said the donations to the towns were funded by donations to the ‘Saving Toddy’ campaign. While the gifts to the towns are nominal, Restuccia hopes they’ll be appreciated.
“What better way to say ‘thank you’?” he said.
Chapman agreed.
“It’s wonderful. The fact that they acknowledged the support they got from the towns and its citizens is very kind,” he said in a telephone interview after the meeting.
Chapman said the department plans to use the donation well.
“It will go toward the fire department budget, and we’ll make a meaningful purchase with it,” he said.