Terryville Fire District residents approve $17.9 million in borrowing for building projects

Terryville residents have approved a $17.9 million fire house construction plan by a more than 2-1 margin.

Residents voted 187-84 on Tuesday to approve the project, which will raise fire taxes in the Brookhaven Town hamlet by 23%.

Property taxes on the average home assessed at $2,350 would go up from $718 annually to $882, Terryville Fire District officials have said.

The plan calls for tripling the size of a substation on Old Town Road and renovating district headquarters on Jayne Boulevard.

Construction of all three buildings is expected to take about 27 months, beginning in December and finishing in March 2026, district manager Stephan Petras said Wednesday in an email.

Both projects are needed to address space shortages at the substation and correct decades of building deterioration at the headquarters, officials said.

The district also must meet upgraded state safety standards and provide bathrooms for women, who were not part of the fire department when the substation was built in 1974, Petras said last week, adding the community has grown in the past five decades.

The hamlet's population has more than doubled, from 5,474 in 1970 to 11,472 in 2020, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

The substation will be expanded from 5,637 square feet to 18,000 square feet to provide additional room for fire trucks, ambulances, equipment and storage, Petras said.

He said a new utility building would be erected while the substation is rebuilt. It would be used to store equipment when the substation reopens, he said.

The headquarters and utility buildings will be the first structures built, followed by the expanded substation, Petras said.

Lee Brett, chairman of Terryville's board of fire commissioners, has said the substation had become "kind of dangerous" because of cramped conditions.

The headquarters, which was built in 1950 and upgraded in 1992 and 2000, needs a new roof and repairs to uneven floors, Petras said.

The fire department responded to about 4,200 calls last year, Petras said.

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.