North Stonington — The Fire/EMS Committee will present architectural plans for a new firehouse to the Boards of Finance and Selectmen at a meeting Wednesday.

Committee Chairman and Deputy Chief Mark Perkins Jr. said the federal Department of Agriculture has approved a $6.3 million rural community development loan for the project. The next steps will be approval from the two boards, a town meeting and then a referendum vote, which Perkins said he hopes will be held sometime next month.

With that timeline, construction could begin as early as this fall or winter.

Perkins said the loan would be paid off over a 20-year period and would cost the average household about $150 a year.

The new building would be constructed on Rocky Hollow Road on a town-owned 8-acre parcel. The move would consolidate the firehouse with the ambulance association, which operates out of a separate garage on Mains Crossing Road. It would include a five-bay garage alongside a two-story building.

The more than 60-year-old building on Route 2 has no insulation or exhaust system and is a squeeze for both personnel and equipment, with bays too small for modern fire trucks.

— Anna Isaacs