More than five years and five concept plans later it appears as if the Hicksville Fire District may have a renovation/expansion proposal for Station 2 that both members of Independent Engine and Hose Co. #2 and the residents living in the vicinity of Ronald Avenue and Briggs Street agree on.

During a public meeting March 21, H2M Group - the Melville-based architectural and engineering firm with environmental expertise retained by the district - presented Hicksville's Board of Fire Commissioners and the public with its latest design for the firehouse. At this time, H2M project manager Danny Tanzi reviewed the existing overcrowded and unsafe conditions at the firehouse as well as the previous renovation/expansions proposals presented over the course of the past four years. While plans for a new firehouse were first presented publicly in 2003, talk of renovating Station 2 first surfaced in October 2001.

The current concept proposal, being referred to by H2M as Concept 5, calls for the construction of a two-story, two-bay firehouse with a partial basement. If approved, the existing building would be excavated, with the exception of the basement, which will be added onto in the front (at the corner of Briggs Street and Ronald Avenue) to allow for an elevator and stairwell. The basement level will serve as space for offices, an electric room and storage. The first floor will be dedicated solely to apparatus and gear and will be designed with wider bay doors to accommodate today's larger/taller equipment. On the second floor there will be a kitchen and multi-purpose room for meetings, training and classes.

The building will have four bathrooms (two on the first floor and two on the second floor), which will be handicapped accessible and equipped with showers; currently there are only two bathrooms in the building. H2M has also proposed locating a backup generator on the flat portion of the roof above the apparatus room that will be shielded from neighbors' view.

To make the firehouse compliant with regulations set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an elevator will be installed; it will run from basement up to the second floor.

H2M's proposal require the construction of a 7,070 square foot firehouse (the current building is 3,935 square feet) on the existing footprint with the exception of approximately five feet extending further out toward Woodbury Road. According to Tanzi, there will also be a small addition at the corner of Ronald Avenue and Brigg Street (where the garden area now lies) to accommodate the elevator/stair well core. Based on this proposal, the new firehouse would be 29 feet at its highest point; a significant decrease from the 40-foot structure proposed back in 2003. The average Hicksville home in the vicinity of the firehouse stands between 25 and 30 feet high.

Harry Single, vice chairman of the district's board of commissioners, said he believes this proposal meets Company 2's "needs as well as all the goals the district set for itself regarding the increased engine room and gear area. Everything thing else will be modernized and up to all code standards."

While there may be some minor adjustments made to the proposal, Single does not foresee any major revisions at this time. "... nothing will change the plans that were shown by much. I believe the only changes may be cosmetic in nature." He added, "I think this new plan is best by far. It is a reasonable renovation at half the cost of the last set of plans and still it addresses all the needs of this firehouse. It also conforms much better to the residential neighborhood and will be an asset to all the surrounding houses."

Although Ronald Avenue resident Terry Teitjen and her family are pleased with the overall "look of the new building as shown in the latest concept," the one issue she said the board and H2M has still failed to address is parking, or lack thereof around the area of the Station 2.

According to Teitjen, H2M did not show slides at last week's meeting indicating there wouldn't be a decrease in available parking for firefighters despite increasing the footprint of building. She also said that plans obtained from the fire district under the Freedom of Information Law also did not account for parking.

"The best way for the fire district to address the neighbor's concerns about the threat of eminent domain is for H2M and the board of fire commissioners to clearly show how no one's property, no one's home, will be needed in the future for additional parking at Station 2," said Teitjen. "They did not accomplish that at the meeting. And it was the most important issue."

Based on this latest concept proposal, Tanzi said parking at Station 2 will remain the same, which means there will be about 10 spaces on and around the property. "Exactly what you are living with now will be exactly what it is like once the construction is complete. It will be no better, no worse than it is right now," Tanzi told the residents present at last week's meeting.

Board of Fire Commissioners Chairman Charely Hearon told the Hicksville Illustrated News that while this particular concept proposal seems to be the best fit "given the space to build and the location being in the middle of a residential area," he too would have liked to see additional parking incorporated into the proposal. He would have also preferred a firehouse with a third bay for "additional storage of equipment, a spare pumper or van to transport members," Hearon said.

Commissioner Bob Manson said, "After years of planning, with the consideration and mandate for Hicksville protection, department member safety and efficiency, and cost consideration, these are excellent plans."

Manson's main concern, however, is that construction start as soon as possible "to avoid additional inflation costs, to minimize the time Company 2 will be away from their quarters for fire and emergency response and to meet the department and community needs without further delay."

Single agreed, saying, "My main concern is to make sure that we get the company back in this house as soon as possible. We [will make] every effort to keep them in the area during the construction and the plans are to get the apparatus side of the building done first so the truck can go back. The rest will be completed in a timely fashion."

Pat Scanlon, the board's newest commissioner, said, overall, this Station 2 meeting was a productive one. "I hope this will be the start of the healing process. The department, district and most of all the community are tired of this issue. We have put a lot of time into this and it is time to move forward," said Scanlon.

According to Tanzi, construction of the new firehouse is expected to cost a little over $3.24 million; monies for the projected have been allocated over the past few years in capital reserve funds. Included in that projected total are demolition charges, actual construction of the building, furnishings and temporary relocation costs.

Should the board of fire commissioners approve the project, the application must be submitted and approved by the Town of Oyster Bay before the district could accept bids and award contracts. If everything goes according to plan, construction would begin in the summer of 2009 and be complete around fall-winter 2010.