Mattituck Fire District hears residents’ questions ahead of Tuesday vote on $15.5 million expansion

Last Thursday, days ahead of a public vote on a contentious bond proposal, the Mattituck Fire District’s Board of Commissioners hoped to educate and galvanize the community on its bid to expand its facilities.

The board welcomed the public into the firehouse for a discussion with its five commissioners and their team of consultants regarding the district’s proposed $15.5 million expansion. Fifteen members of the public, including some Mattituck Fire Department volunteers, attended. The proposal will increase the firehouse’s square footage for equipment and comply with ADA, OSHA and FEMA regulations, some of which it does not currently satisfy, according to the commissioners. It will also increase fire district taxes on 3,940 taxable parcels within the hamlet.

To make the project a reality, the commissioners are asking voters to approve a capital bond for the district to borrow $13 million. The district will fund the other $2.5 from its capital reserves.

In 2022, district voters shot down an $11 million capital bond referendum to expand the fire station, with 71 opposed and 50 in favor. After meeting with fire department members to learn what they hope to see in a new fire station, the district revised its plans with the hopes of bolstering the ‘yays’ amongst its membership and the broader community.

Martin Sendlewski, the architect behind the project, presented the site plan, which calls for a two-story addition to the western side of the existing building at the corner of Pike Street and Wickham Avenue. If the bond resolution is passed, the funds would create four pull-through truck bays, a new community meeting space, a full kitchen, office and training spaces and gear areas for responders to change more safely.

“The engines are really tight, close together,” fire commissioner chairman Jason Haas previously explained to The Suffolk Times regarding the need for more space. “People are getting their gear on right next to the trucks while they’re pulling out on the ramp. We need more room.”

To make room for the two-story addition, the existing historic firehouse will be moved closer to Route 25 and the building currently used as the district office will be demolished.

Noah Nadelson, chief executive officer of Munistat Financial Advisory Service, discussed the dollars and cents of the proposal. The district will borrow $13 million at an interest rate of 4.5%, which will be repaid over 30 years. Taxpayers will pay $17.22 for every $1,000 of assessed value on their property. With the average property in Mattituck assessed at $6,600, a figure that is calculated as a fraction of each property’s appraised value, hamlet homeowners will see an average increase of $114 on their fire district tax bill in 2025.

Residents present at the meeting raised myriad questions including whether the North Fork’s various departments could share more of their facilities; why absentee ballots are not being issued for Tuesday’s vote — which the district is not legally required to provide — and whether the department came up with a “plan B” proposal should voters reject the one presented to them Tuesday.

Commissioner Steve Libretto said the department’s previous expansions, which have occurred approximately every three decades since the original structure was built in the 1930s, have essentially been “plan Bs” that failed to provide the department with enough space to adapt to long term needs. The commissioners and Mr. Sendlewski project this expansion will provide the department with enough space to accommodate equipment and safety updates with which it will have to comply over the next 50 to 75 years.

“Unfortunately, over the years of different additions being done here … by the time the bond process goes through, the bidding process goes through, the construction starts and ends and we take occupancy of that new building, it’s already too small,” Mr. Libretto said, responding to Mattituck-Cutchogue Board of Education president Patricia Arslanian’s question Thursday evening. “Every single time that’s been the case.”

“Should we go for a ‘plan B’ if this gets voted down next week?” Mr. Libretto said. “We have to do something … there are many areas in this building where there just is not enough room.”