Construction set to begin in Woodbury on new Second Precinct for Nassau police

Nearly a year after a fast-moving fire destroyed the Second Precinct in Woodbury, Nassau officials gathered Monday for the ceremonial groundbreaking of a new station house.

The new precinct will cost about $21 million — funding that was included in the county's capital budget — and is expected to take 16 months to construct, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said at a news conference outside the old building, which was built in 1969.

"Doing a renovation on something that wasn't good to begin with is like throwing good money after bad," Blakeman said, noting the new building will be similar to the renovated Fourth Precinct in Hewlett. "So we made the quick determination that we were going to build a new precinct house here, which was long overdue anyway."

Legislators have also approved a $1.8 million design contract with The LiRo Group, which has designed other county precincts, according to Ken Arnold, the county’s public works commissioner.

The old two-story building, Blakeman said, will be demolished and the new building will be constructed on the site of an adjoining parking lot.

In the interim, Second Precinct officers and leadership have operated in a temporary trailer at Stillwell Woods Park in Woodbury. The precinct covers parts of Bayville, Hicksville, Jericho, Oyster Bay, Plainview, Syosset and Woodbury.

"A new precinct is important to our community," said Joseph Saladino, supervisor of the Town of Oyster Bay, which includes Woodbury. "And it's living proof of successful community policing and ensuring a high level of public safety, especially during these uncertain times."

The Nov. 26 blaze at the Jericho Turnpike Precinct began in the kitchen after paper left near a mini-oven caught fire and then spread to two adjoining offices, officials said.

Six Nassau police personnel inside the building at the time of the fire — a lieutenant, a sergeant, two detectives and two officers — were treated at Nassau University Medical Center for smoke inhalation and released, officials said.

The county fire marshal deemed the blaze accidental and said the old building did not have a fire alarm or sprinkler system because it was built decades before the State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code was created in 1984.

"This building … was not designed for the crime that you see today; the technology that you see today," Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said of the old station house. "You're now going to get a state-of-the-art police facility."

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.