After nearly one year of research and consideration, the Board of Commissioners of the Hicksville Fire District weighed all its options and approved a renovation project to address the severe overcrowded conditions and safety concerns at Station #2. Hicksville Fire Commissioners William McKee and Joseph Giardina met with the Hicksville Illustrated News earlier this week to discuss plans to move forward with the expansion of Station #2. A motion to authorize the improvement project at the existing 48-year-old firehouse, located at the intersection of Woodbury Road and Briggs Street, was approved 3-1 during a meeting last week by the five-member board; Chairman Robert Dwyer abstained from the vote.

The board's motion to move forward means that the fire district will not be looking further into the feasibility of moving the station house to the Ronald Avenue sump. According to McKee, who is chairman of the Station #2 Committee, the fire district never received any communication from the Town of Oyster Bay's Department of Public Works regarding use of the sump. "We have not received a letter as of yet. We sent another one in February and have heard nothing," he said. "We feel the town is not interested at this point."

McKee added that relocating the firehouse would have a negative impact on safety and response times. "To put the [firehouse] so deep into the neighborhood, our men would have to [travel] through the neighborhood to get to the firehouse and then have to respond out of the neighborhood just to get to the main road."

Giardina, who is a member of Station #2, agreed. "You would be passing 20 homes out of the neighborhood with a fire truck rather than one house," he said, adding that constructing a new firehouse at the sump would have a negative impact on taxpayers. "The cost factor of constructing a new [firehouse] at the sump as opposed to redoing the [current] house would probably be two to three times as much money."

According to a prepared statement, the April 14 action by the board follows nearly a year of research and consideration as well as numerous meetings with neighbors from the surrounding area and correspondence sent to the community.

"We have thoroughly reviewed all the options available to us. The bottom line is that we need to make some tough decisions, and the existing plans provide us with the only practical solution," said McKee. "Every day that goes by exposes our brave volunteers to cramped, outdated conditions at Station Two. The safety of our firefighters and the community they serve must remain a top priority."

In addition, relocating the firehouse, said Giardina, would mean relocating the problem. "There are some people against it and some people for it. Regardless of where we were to build the firehouse, there were going to be people opposed to it," he said. "We are looking at what is best for the community-at-large and for the safety of our firefighters."

He added, "The fact is that there are a few people who just don't want it no matter what we do [and] we are not looking to fight with them. We are trying to do what is best for everyone. We have taken all their concerns into consideration. We've reduced the size. We've reduced the number of bays. We've looked at alternative properties and there is nothing else available to us at this time."

In a prepared statement issued by Ryan & Ryan, the public relations firm retained by the fire district, Commissioner and Vice Chairman Anthony Wigdzinski stated that the board's primary emphasis during the evaluation process was the safety of both firefighters and residents of the community. "The board members have been elected by the public to make sure the community is well protected and that our volunteers are provided with the best firefighting equipment and facilities available," Wigdzinski said. "To achieve this objective, we must sometimes make difficult decisions that may inconvenience some of our residents. However, in the final analysis, our responsibility must be to address the greater good of the majority of our citizens."

By moving forward with plans to renovate Station #2 at its current site, the fire district also originally nixed plans to form a community planning committee to develop a project that would meet everyone's needs and concerns. "There are people who are against it and there are people who are for it. The thing I was mainly concerned about is that, [with a committee] you would be pitting neighbor against neighbor; those who are in favor [versus] those who are against it," said Giardina. "I feel it is our elected position, right or wrong, to make the decision not to pit neighbors against one another."

However, during a public meeting on Monday, April 19, the fire commissioners agreed to give serious thought to reconsidering forming a committee. The board is currently evaluating the feasibility of forming a citizens advisory committee regarding the project. Whether or not such a committee is ultimately formed, the public will be kept abreast as the project moves forward.

According to Commissioner Charley Hearon, who voted against the motion to move forward with the expansion of Station 2 at its current location, forming a committee at this time seems pointless. "They already voted for the firehouse, its location and already have the plans," he said. "What is the committee going to decide on? What's left?"

Hearon, in a press release issued earlier this week by Ryan & Ryan, stated, "I want to take this opportunity to make it perfectly clear to our community that I am vehemently opposed to the decision made by fellow members of the Hicksville Board of Fire Commissioners on April 14 to go forward with the Station Two expansion at its current location without the formation of a committee that would include residents."

(For additional comments, see Letters to the Editor on pages 14 and 15.)

As it stands now, the project calls for the construction of a 35-foot two-story building with two bays, both of which would face Briggs Street. To do so, H2M Group, the architectural and engineering firm with environmental expertise retained by the district, has proposed demolishing the current building and constructing a new facility on the footprint of the current firehouse.

"The majority of the board agrees that what we have proposed with a two-story, two-bay firehouse is everything we need for the future. To cut it down to a point of saying something is optional and then five years look to do it again would be really ludicrous," said Giardina. "We have no objections if the architect can reduce the building a foot here, two feet there when he does his final plans."

McKee added, "We have already communicated with [H2M] that we are not opposed to any reduction in the size of the firehouse that can be made to bring it down or bring it in."

Both commissioners agreed that the fire district has no intentions of eliminating Station 2. "We are not going to take the firehouse away from there because the community needs it," said Giardina.

"It is the second busiest ambulance for the district with Levittown Parkway - a house with 100 men in it, being the first, and Station 2 is a house with 30 men in it," said McKee.

Pursuant to the April 14 vote, the district will now move forward with the plans for Station #2 as drafted by H2M, the district's consultants, and presented to residents at public meetings held on both Feb. 17 and March 30. Once final plans are rendered, they will have to be submitted to the Oyster Bay Town Board. The town board will then review the plans and vote for or against the project. According to fire district officials, the process could take anywhere from four to eight months.