Fire departments look to expand parking

Two Town of Oyster Bay fire departments with limited parking for their volunteers are trying to extinguish the problem by acquiring and demolishing adjacent homes.

Oyster Bay Fire Company No. 1's plan to purchase the house at 206 South St., on the south side of its firehouse, will be the subject of a hearing before the Town Board Tuesday at 10 a.m.

Meanwhile, the Bayville Fire Company is seeking village approval to demolish a house purchased four years ago at 25 Quincy Ave. -- an action some neighbors oppose.

Oyster Bay Fire Company No. 1 Chief Anthony DeCarolis said the department plans to purchase the 8,650-square-foot parcel on South Street for $529,000. Because his fire company is a not-for-profit corporation, it has asked the Town Board to designate the purchase a tax-exempt transaction so that a bank can offer tax-exempt financing, which would reduce the interest charge. DeCarolis said closing costs would boost the cost to about $575,000.

"There is no immediate plan to demolish the house," DeCarolis said. "But it's probably the eventual thing we would be looking to do. During an alarm, the parking lot is filled."

"We have a relatively small parking lot, and traffic on South Street, which is Route 106, has increased significantly," he continued. "On days when there are significant events going on at any of the three nearby churches, we have major congestion issues and difficulty moving apparatus. Over the last 20 years, our call volume has increased by about 70 percent" to more than 900 calls a year.

While DeCarolis and town officials said they have not heard any complaints about the Oyster Bay purchase from the community, some neighbors have raised concerns with Bayville officials about proposed demolition needed to expand the Bayville firehouse's parking lot, which is now filled by volunteers responding to fires and residents voting on Election Day.

Henry Encarnacion, chairman of the Bayville department trustees, said, "We may expand the firehouse in the future," and the additional property would offset the loss of parking spaces. "We're looking to remove the building as step one," but there are no immediate plans to do so, he said.

Chris McMahon, who lives across the street from the purchased home, said, "We're thinking that the property values are going to go down quite a bit. I'll look out my front window into a parking lot." He and others said the department has not reached out to explain its plans.

Encarnacion refused to discuss the neighbors' complaints.

Bayville Mayor Doug Watson said the village, which provides most of the funding for the independent fire department, will hold a hearing on the demolition application. Using the property for parking will also require a change of zone.