$1 Million Firehouse Land Buy Before Voters Thursday

A $1 million land buy for a new firehouse will be in the hands of voters in Toms River Fire District 1 on Thursday.

The special referendum vote affects just those districts served by Toms River Fire District 1: generally, downtown Toms River, East Dover and the barrier island. District 2, which is Pleasant Plains, Silverton and North Dover, is not impacted by the vote.

District 1 is aiming to move Toms River Fire Co. & , which operate out of the Robbins Street and Water Street stations currently, into a new firehouse to be built on Hadley and Hooper Avenue where Williamson Realty currently is.

District 1 Brian Kubiel, also the township council vice president, said moving the two downtown firehouses out of their current facilities is an idea at least two decades old.

“Fire Company Number 1 is outdated. Fire Company Number 2 is in the flood plain,” Kubiel said.

Referendum would approve land buy, not building

Should voters approve the referendum question, district 1 would be authorized to buy the land for the project.

That figure does not include the cost of drafting up plans for the firehouse, or actually building it.

“We can’t legally ask for a building dollar amount with out voters first approving the land buy,” Kubiel said.

He would not say how much the construction of the firehouse would cost.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he said. He declined to even name a possible minimum for the project or a ballpark figure. “We’re just not in a position to say.”

District 1 Fire Commissioner Mark Autenrieth said that building a fire house is not comparable to building a house, and that project estimates are tough to calculate at this stage.

“The costs for this type building is quite hard to price out,” Autenrieth said. “To  handle wear and tear they face…an estimate is not determined like a regular house.”

Kubiel and Autenrieth said it’s not possible to estimate the cost of the building without first approving the site it will go on.

However, while project specifics aren’t available, Kubiel said the firehouse would allow a 95-foot ladder truck currently housed on Cardinal Drive district 1 substation to be better accessible.  The firehouse would jointly serve Co. 1 & 2. The two fire houses are now about two blocks from each other in downtown Toms River.

Not a tax increase

Kubiel and Autenrieth said the referendum is not a tax question. Instead, the commissioners are asking voters to authorize the district to spend on the land buy.

Voting yes would not impact the local tax levy.

It’s also not for bonding out to cover the costs of the land buy. Instead, the way the fire district operates, an appropriation question is posed to voters, Kubiel said.

“The fire district is governed by election rules different from the school or municipal election,” he said.

The Thursday vote asks district 1 residents whether $1 million should be spent on the land purchase. A second question on the referendum pertains to the purchase of a back-up generator, at a cost of $48,750 for the district’s share of an emergency generator for the Toms River Fire Academy.

Voting only at West Water Street Firehouse

To vote on the referendum, district 1 voters have one polling location: the Toms River Fire Co. No. 2 firehouse, 45 West Water St. The polls are open from 2 to 9 p.m.

The West Water Street firehouse is the only place to vote. Autenrieth said that in the annual fire elections, District 1 has three polling places: the Ocean Beach Firehouse on the barrier island, Fire Co. No. 2’s West Water Street house, and the East Dover Fire Company on Fischer Boulevard.

“The minimum we’re required to have is one,” Kubiel said.

He said they’ve publically advertised the election three times, which is more than the minimum that’s required. Kubiel said the district is hoping to spread the word to increase voter turnout and counter misinformation on the referendum by buying local ad space, publically posting referendum information, and have put the ballot question up on the township Web site.

Kubiel said the downtown fire house was selected as the single polling place because it has the highest voter turnout in the annual election.

“It’s the bigger of the three polling spots,” he said.

When asked why only one polling place will be open instead of more, Kubiel said, “The statute says we only need one polling place… We chose to open the one the majority of voters go to.”

A voter in North Beach that would previously have voted at the Ocean Beach Fire House would instead travel to West Water Street to vote.

“Unfortunately that’s the case. Where we analyzed the voters are, we chose the polling location based on that,” Kubiel said. “Some of the comments we’ve heard from residents were about the polling location; and as a result of that it (voting locations) may be different in the future.”

A referendum before year’s end

Kubiel said the voting date is not the best time of year.

“We understand the timing is an issue. It’s the holidays,” Kubiel said.

Then why not wait until the regular fire election day, which is held in February? The annual election day is on a Saturday and chooses the elected fire commissioners, and last election also had appropriation questions. In February 2011, 395 votes were cast town-wide.

Kubiel said the reason the special election was held was a successful vote would be required before year’s end to appropriate the money in 2012.

“We have to get the voters’ approval in the prior year,” he said.

He said the commissioners had a special meeting Nov. 9 to discuss the possibility of buying the property and progressing to a letter of intent with the realty.

“We’ve never progressed this far in the discussion,” he said.

At the November meeting, the commissioners agreed to proceed and hold a special referendum before year’s end, based on the time-sensitive nature of a land buy, he said.

“If timing wasn’t a key component, we wouldn’t be faced with having this referendum,” Kubiel said.

Autenrieth said the last time a special referendum was held was five or six years ago when a truck had serious repair issues.

“We’re not in the habit of having these,” Kubiel said. “We just agreed it was time to move on the deal… and we hope voters agree it’s a worthwhile project.”

A idea 20 years or older

Autenrieth said the idea of moving both firehouses into a new location is not a new one.

“We’ve been trying to do this for at least 20 years now,” he said. Previously, the commissioners pursued property on the Highland Parkway, Mott Place, Washington Street and Lexington Avenue.

None progressed as far as the negotiations for Hooper and Hadley avenues, he said.

Issues with traffic downtown are among the factors motivating the commissioners to seek a new site for the two existing fire houses.

“It’s hard to get out of both houses,” Autenrieth said. That’s because of traffic but also because of the turning radius the apparatus need.

Autenrieth said both Fire Co. No. 1 & 2 are outdated, with No. 1 on Robbins Street the older of the two firehouses.

He said Fire Co No. 2 is also in the flood plain of the Toms River. Sandbags come out in case Irons Street begins to flood, in storm conditions such as August’s Hurricane Irene, for example.

Autenrieth said that the doors of the existing firehouses also limit what apparatus can be housed there, as the smallest clearance is nine feet.

Kubiel said the new location would be more accessible for volunteers to get to quicker than they get to the downtown houses.

 “We want to do what creates the more efficient fire company,” Kubiel said.

Residents raise questions

In a Monday interview, Kubiel repeatedly said the referendum will not pave the way for a paid fire district.

“That has never been discussed. No way we’re even bringing that up,” he said.

Autenrieth said it’s not something he’d want here. “The tradition is of volunteerism,” Autenrieth said. “And just the tax impact alone, it would double.”

Resident Nels Luthman said there’s multiple concerns with the referendum, such as the timing of the election, the lack of polling locations, the lack of information on the project.

“The Fire Commissioners say they don't know what it will cost.  How do you start a project without knowing the total cost?  Either you know and do not want the public to know or you don't which is even worse,” Luthman said.

He said last week’s fire commissioners meeting did not provide many answers to his questions. He also brought up the concern at the second November Township Council meeting.

“Most modern fire houses cost at least $8 million to build,” Luthman said.