Tarrytown: Two Firehouses Are Cheaper Then One

[x635 4,066]

If two firehouses are cheaper to build then one, then are two firehouses cheaper to maintain over the long term???

Village says two firehouses cheaper than one

By LEN MANIACE

lmaniace@thejournalnews.com

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: September 13, 2005)

Tarrytown officials hope to save money by dropping a plan to put two volunteer fire companies into the same building, but critics are questioning Village Hall's assertion that it's cheaper to build two firehouses than one.

Officials contend that Tarrytown can cut $770,000 off the $4.2 million price tag of a long-planned, double-sized firehouse on Route 119, by housing only one fire company on that site and putting up a second firehouse on Sheldon Avenue.

Some people living near the Sheldon Avenue site, however, say the village's math is wrong and that the original plan is not only cheaper but would also be safer by avoiding putting the firehouse on a residential street.

"They already approved building a double-bay firehouse on Route 119, so they are undoing everything the village had done with no communication to the neighborhood," said Michael Kreiger, who lives on Sheldon Avenue. Kreiger said he and a neighbor discovered their block was being considered for a firehouse on May 2, when they saw the issue was on the Tarrytown Board of Trustees meeting for that night.

A special village board meeting is scheduled for tomorrow night to answer the issues raised by the critics.

"We want to address their concerns," said Mayor Drew Fixell in an interview yesterday. "Maybe there is something we missed; maybe there is another alternative."

Fixell said the change in the plan, which dates back to 2001, had been justified by an architect's cost comparison of the two designs. Sean E. McCarthy, a Sleepy Hollow architect, estimated the $770,000 in savings by building two, 2-story firehouses instead of one 3-story building designed for the Route 119 site.

The savings, according to the report, are possible because the original firehouse was essentially two buildings under one roof, with separate facilities for the two companies, and because a smaller firehouse on Route 119 would allow builders to avoid costly removal of a rock outcropping on the site.

The $770,000 in savings, according to the report, includes several caveats, however: each firehouse would be smaller than originally envisioned; money from the sale of the 1/8-acre Sheldon Avenue site, which would not be needed in the original plan, was not included in the calculation; and the construction would need to start in early 2006 and be completed in 12 months .

Under the new plan, the Washington Engine Company still would move to Route 119 from a site the village considers to be outmoded. The Consolidated Engine Company, however, would move from a temporary facility to the Sheldon Avenue site, where the company had been located until it was forced to move several years ago because its firehouse was in poor condition.

The move to build two firehouses instead of one was one the first initiatives taken by Democrat Fixell and three new trustees who ousted four incumbents in the village's March elections.

The change came about after the Consolidated Engine Company had raised reservations about the move, Fixell said, and after informal talks with McCarthy, who had designed the original double-bay firehouse, raised the likelihood of savings by abandoning the original plan

The McCarthy study contradicts a 2001 estimate for the village which found the single firehouse would be $234,453 cheaper than building two. Fixell said the early calculations were rough estimates.

Critics of the latest plan say the Sheldon Avenue site is not without is own problems.

A 2001 study of structural problems at the previous firehouse on the site blamed soft sediments under the building.

"They don't know what they are getting into on Sheldon Avenue," said Dawn Carelli. "You don't know what that ground is going to be able to support."

Fixell said the architect's estimates included the cost of dealing with the soft sediments on the site.

[Jared1979 19]

If two firehouses are cheaper to build then one, then are two firehouses cheaper to maintain over the long term???

Tarrytown is in need of two new fire stations. Washington Hose on Kaldenberg Place is to small for Tower ladder 78. It is a really small firehouse with barely enough room to accomindate the new rig. I had heard in the past that Washington Hose and Consolidated Hose were going to be sharing a firehouse together so I don't know what the resolution will be. I know from reading in the local paper they wanted to put the new fire house on 119, that will help get the response time to calls on 119 shortened.

[dadbo46 50]

If two fire houses are cheaper than one firehouse, then I have some land in Louisiana I want to sell you !

Something is burning in Tarrytown....and I think somebody is smoking it !!!

[gpdexplorer 46]

A new house or two new houses are desperately needed. Engine 77 is housed in shed at the corner of Sheldon Ave and Meadow St and their meeting room is a trailer aka "Trailer Trash." TL 78 is also housed in a temporary shed on the Hitachi property. The rig can barely make it out of there as it is. Put all the political bs aside and think of the safety of the village and its residents.

[dadbo46 50]

Absolutely....build one house and be done with it !

Now a second ladder in the village is another thing.

[Eagle24 2]

""Now a second ladder in the village is another thing.""

"If you build it, they will come"??? 119 makes the most sense to me-decrease response time. . .just curious what land they would pick up...

[ONLOCATION 24]

Just Build them already!

[firecapt32 282]

119 is the correct answer for the village thats for sure, now you have to convince the board of trustees , the board of fire wardens, eng 77 and lad 78. mabey they should be locked in a room and learn to play togeather.

[Guest]

now  you have to convince the board of trustees , the board of fire wardens, eng 77 and lad 78. mabey  they should be locked in a room and learn to play togeather.

←

Are you always this funny?

The bottom line here is that E77 does not want to share with TL78.

And none of the above are doing a very good job of learning to play nice.

Dontcha just LOVE small town politics?

-cmc-

[firecapt32 282]

since when does the department tell the village what to do with tax money. If the village puts one fire house up with 2 bays thats it period. taxpayers donot want to get into a squabble because members of compaines cant work togeather . what do thay do at fires?? say this one belonges to 77- 78 can fight the next one!!! you get what I mean. The fire service is there for the public not the individual or the individual fire compant. e should be working as one department not individual companies.

[ONLOCATION 24]

Point Blank: They need a New Facility or Facilities. Housing a 1 million dollar piece of Apparatus in a Temp. Building is ofcourse not what they wanted but was what they had to do. But when you knew that the rig was coming and nothing was really done (Not on the FD side but the Village) comeon know. With the Extremely cold Winters we have been having and Consolidated being in there "Trailer" for what 3-4 years now. I mean you can only say "take Pride in your Double-Wide" for only so long. No matter what you do you will never make everyone happy but something should be decided on. Make one Station or two seperate and let everyone fight about it later but always keep the future in mind. Don't build something with no possible future expansion. We are here for the protection of the Citizen and the Community keep that inmind aswell.

[DaveTFD 0]

from what i read, people who are posting "119 will make for a quicker response time to the village" live absolutly no where near tarrytown. statistics from E-77 show that the 9 members living on sheldon avenue and browning lane respond to 89% of the alarms. where the old firehouse was would b a 1-2 minute response time from page to the truck being on the road and responding. taking the truck away from sheldon avenue and up to 119 where there is a light at the top of medow street, and a light at the jug handle on broadway leading to 119 would make for a response time of 5-6 minutes. those figures are just to get the truck on the road and responding, getting to the scene depending on where the call is would obviously take a longer time. any firefighter knows 5-6 minutes when a person is trapped in a car and not breathing, or on the 3rd floor of a structure with no exit seems like an eternity to the victem. to make this clear, E-77 quarters are not being built on sheldon avenue, they are being RE-BUILT where it rightfully belongs. also this company has been living in a trailer for the past 4 years. meetings, holiday parties, and snow watch have all been spent feeling like red neck trash of tarrytown. i am fed up with it. somebody said before that you can only "take pride in your double wide for so long" well they are right. i want a fire house, and i want it now. this is not consolidated engine crying like a baby that they want their fire house, these are men tired of sitting in a meeting and having a trailor shake everytime a truck goes by on the NYS thruway. enjoy your firehouses ladies and gentleman, because one day you might be in this situation and be just as pissed off as i am.

p.s. firecapt32, u shouldent say things unless u r sure wut you are saying is the truth