EPPING — Selectmen voted Monday to tear down the town’s old fire station to make room for a new library.

In a unanimous vote, selectmen decided it would be best to remove the brick station built in 1935 as part of a $1.8 million library proposal.

“I don’t think there’s any use for the building anymore,” Selectman Tom Gauthier said.

Selectmen took the vote after reviewing two proposals drawn up by architects and presented by Selectman Karen Falcone, board chairman, during a public hearing.

One proposal calls for a new library to be built on the site of the old fire station once it’s removed. That would allow the existing Harvey-Mitchell Memorial Library, which sits next to the station, to remain open until the new library is ready. Once it’s finished, Falcone said, the old library would also be demolished and replaced with a small town park.

The second proposal calls for a renovation and expansion of the existing library, but the fire station would remain standing.

Falcone said it would cost about 25 to 30 percent less to build new. But according to library officials, the total cost of each option would be about the same because the proposal for a new library also includes construction of the park.

Jim Rogier, a member of the library building committee and the town’s historic district commission, urged selectmen to consider the historical value of the old station, which is located in the town’s historic district.

“(By) taking this down you’re diminishing what we have left of original town buildings,” he told selectmen. “Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

Selectmen said the old fire station has too many deficiencies and isn’t worth preserving. However, they insisted that steps must be taken to pay tribute to the building through photographs, plaques and other fire department memorabilia if the new library and park are built.

“There’s a lot of fire history on that building,” Selectman Robert Jordan said.

The building served as a fire station until 2001 when a new public safety complex was built for police, fire and rescue. The old station was then used by the town’s highway department as storage space until last year when a new highway garage was built.

Plans for the library project began after voters in March approved $30,000 to survey the site and prepare engineering reports and an architectural design. A final proposal is expected to be considered by voters next March.

jschreiber@newstote.com