The traditional red brick firehouse may be going green as officials eye environmentally friendly technologies as a way to garner stimulus funding for t h e construction of a new fire station in Pelham.

With voters set to decide whether to build a new fire station later this month, the third such vote in recent years, town officials are are investigating “energy conscious” elements that could be included in the final plans that might make the project more attractive to those agencies distributing funds from the economic stimulus package.

“We were told that (environmentally- friendly elements) are going to be a scoring factor,” said Town Administrator Thomas Gaydos. “We have to look at the costs, what the various options are and then understand how much they’re willing to grant.”

According to Gaydos, administrators are examining the cost of adding green technologies like thermal heating for inclusion in the final plans for the project.

Though there has been no word yet on how much of the $4.7 million project price tag would be picked up by the federal government, Gaydos said the town was moving ahead with the project as quickly as possible in order to make it “shovel-ready.”

Jeffrey Gowan, the town’s planning director, believes it is logical to assume that including environmentally friendly aspects to the proposed fire station would put it ahead of other projects statewide.

“Between solar technology – I’m not suggesting we have a wind farm on top of the fire station – but green building materials and green building technologies, it can have a pretty impressive payback for the town,” Gowan said. “Certainly President Obama has stressed the green approach as likely to contribute to the country’s recovery.”

If voters approve the citizen petitioned bond at the annual Town Meeting, the project could be out to bid by June, Gaydos said.

Last week selectmen approved the use of roughly $222,000 in impact fees for a new design for the proposed firehouse. Collected from home construction projects, the fees are set aside to reduce the impact on the town’s fire services from new residents.

The project has also come before voters as the town is preparing how best to use a $3.9 million federal earmark for the reconstruction of the roadways in the center of town. The state has presented residents with two variants, both roundabouts, but option A would require the demolition of the existing fire station.

Option B would leave the fire station in place, but would cost the department their front access from the building, which would add minutes onto their emergency response time, according to fire officials.

Combined with the potential loss of $170,000 in fire impact fees set to expire this year, Gaydos said Pelham is in a unique position to draw on both federal funds and impact fees to lessen the burden on the tax rate.

“We know that there’s going to be money and we know that projects that are ready to go are going to get the best looks,” Gaydos said. “We’re going to need all sorts of people (for the project work) and we have them here. We want them on the job. We want the stimulus money to stimulate the town of Pelham and the surrounding area.”