New Castle Fire District Eyes Nearly $17M Firehouse Renovation
New Castle Fire District No. 1 is prepared to hold a nearly $17 million referendum in April to pay for the long-sought expansion and modernization of the King Street firehouse.
The district’s Board of Commissioners announced last Thursday that a vote has been tentatively scheduled for Apr. 5. Polls would be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on that day.
The project would provide the space to accommodate modern emergency apparatus, equipment and decontamination facilities and an update of the facility to comply with current industry-standard workplace regulations and requirements for enhanced worker health and safety.
A renovation would also ensure the facility, located at 495 King St. in Chappaqua, is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“I’m very confident that after the better part of five to six months of looking at these numbers and asking questions that this is the number that we need to go forward with,” Board of Commissioners Chairman Terence Hoey said of what would be a $16,992,906 bond.
As currently proposed, $13,440,000 of that total would be for hard construction costs. Another $2,425,000 would go toward pre-bond expenses and professional fees and $483,000 for fixtures, furniture and equipment. There would also be $403,000 set aside for contingency.
The remainder of the money would be for a variety of miscellaneous expenses and pre- and post-bond costs.
Money for the acquisition of the adjacent property and demolition of the old Chappaqua Animal Hospital accounted for separately. That money was derived with the passage of a $2.6 million bond in 2017.
Another $38,500 for a variety of other expenses such as legal work, an asbestos remediation engineer and other professional services would also not be covered in the bond, said Bob Mitchell, the project architect from Mitchell Associates Architects.
For well over a year, the board has been signaling that it would schedule another referendum to make critical upgrades at the firehouse that district officials have contended are long overdue because it lacks the space for some of today’s fire trucks, a lack of room for firefighters rushing to respond to a call and the capacity to decontaminate their equipment from carcinogens following a fire.
It is a similar bond to the $12.6 million bond that voters overwhelmingly defeated in October 2016. However, this time commissioners are determined to demonstrate to voters the need for a renovated firehouse through an extensive public outreach campaign, including retaining Wise Oak Strategies, a public relations outfit headed by Bedford Fire District Commissioner Heather Feldman. A similar effort helped the Bedford Village Fire District to pass a $14.8 million bond in January 2020 after a previous defeat.
Mitchell said since 2016, the annualized rate of inflation for construction has been 4.66 percent, explaining much of the rise in costs over what will be a vote five-and-a-half years later. It also factors in additional escalation due to the pandemic.
“So the 4.66 percent makes sense in terms of accounting for the COVID-related higher rate of escalation in ’21 and the market-based regional information in northern Westchester as compared to the region as a whole,” Mitchell said.
District Treasurer Robin Rizzo said the current proposal would increase taxes $1.66 per thousand dollars of assessed value. The district will eventually post on its website what that tax increase would translate into for each property owner in the district.
Feldman said in the months until the vote, the district will be conducting extensive public outreach, including mailings, informational sessions and social media posts to help educate district residents about the need for the project, its financial implications and the timeline.
“I have great faith that if we continue in this direction it will result in a positive benefit for the district and the department,” Hoey said.
The fire district still needs to obtain site plan approval for the project from the New Castle Planning Board.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
