Terryville fire officials seek $17.9 million for substation expansion, HQ repairs

Terryville fire officials are asking residents next week to approve a $17.9 million plan to more than triple the size of a substation and make what they say are long-overdue repairs to district headquarters. 

Fire taxes on the average district home would go up 23% if the proposal is approved in a Tuesday bond referendum, officials said. 

Property taxes on the average home assessed at $2,350 would rise from $718 annually to $882, if the bond is approved, district manager Stephan Petras said. 

Officials said the project is needed to address space shortages and decades of building deterioration. 

The district, in Brookhaven Town, 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, 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.

Lee Brett, chairman of the Terryville board of fire commissioners, said the substation at 688 Old Town Rd. has become "kind of dangerous" because of cramped conditions.

“There’s not much room for the gear for the firefighters,” Brett said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s becoming a hazard.”

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

Ira Costell, president of the Port Jefferson Station-Terryville Civic Association, agreed that upgrades are needed at both buildings, adding the proposal and its cost seem reasonable.

But he said he worried that fire district officials waited too long before publicizing the vote, adding he did not learn about it until last week when the district issued a Jan. 11 letter to the community.

“We haven’t really had enough time to promote or establish awareness about it," Costell said. “It’s been done in a way that wasn't as engaging as I would have liked it to have been.”

Brett said the bond vote was scheduled as soon as plans were finalized out of concern that the project would get too expensive if the vote was postponed.

Brett said district officials would step up efforts to publicize the vote.

"We’re going to do it the old-fashioned way and knock on doors and let everybody know," he said.

Voting is from 2 to 9 p.m. at district headquarters, 19 Jayne Blvd. 

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.