North White Plains Shafted....Again???

[x635 4,066]

North Castle can spend $2.2 million to buy Armonks old firehouse (after they moved into a new $7 million firehouse) to make it into a rec center, yet they wont spend the money on neccesary renovation and improvments/upgrades for North White Plains? I don't understand this, do they forget that the south part of town is still theirs? This just goes as further proof to prove my case that fire and ems protection is on the low end of priorities for the new version of Westchester residents.

Town Board to vote on buying old firehouse

By ELIZABETH GANGA  

THE JOURNAL NEWS  

(Original publication: September 25, 2004)

The Town Board will vote next week on whether to bond $2.2 million to buy the old Maple Avenue firehouse from the Armonk fire district and to renovate the building, most likely for the recreation department.  

The commissioners of North Castle Fire District No. 2, which covers Armonk, decided to offer the building to the town for $1.1 million instead of selling it to the highest bidder. The fire department built a new $8 million house on Route 22 and wants to use the money from the former firehouse to repay bonds for the construction. Because of a bond deadline, the fire district wants a pledge from the town by Oct. 15 and the closing by Feb. 1.  

The Town Board plans to pass a permissive referendum, which means the bond will not have to be approved by the public unless a resident gathers enough signatures within 30 days to force a vote. A few hundred signatures would be needed.  

Plans to build a new recreation building for between $4 million and $5 million were defeated twice by the voters in the past year. But officials said they have found widespread support for using the former firehouse for a recreation center.  

"It's amazing how many people came up to me and said, 'This is great,' " said Councilwoman Rebecca Kittredge, who has pushed to keep the firehouse for public use.  

Barbara Walsh, who took her two preschool-age children to the playground at the existing recreation department offices on Cox Avenue earlier this week, called it "the best idea ever."  

"I'm hoping that they do buy it and that they do turn it into a little community center," said Walsh, 45.  

Walsh's kids, 3 and 4 years old, have each taken classes through the recreation department. Another mother at the playground, Julie Behar, has also sent her three sons to the programs and would like to see the firehouse used for recreation.  

"I'd rather keep it in town and utilize it for the kids that have no nicer facilities," she said.  

The recreation offices, along with two small classrooms, currently are in a small white house at 85 Cox Ave. The town also has a small community center in North White Plains, rents space for programs around town and has some programs in the Town Hall annex. The firehouse on Maple Avenue is in downtown Armonk and near two town schools.  

Architects are now looking at the old firehouse to see what town uses might fit there. If recreation space doesn't make sense, the building could be used for other town offices, freeing space in the Town Hall complex for the recreation department.  

The town looked at the old firehouse for the recreation department last year before deciding to try to build a new facility that would have had a full-size gym and met the department's other needs. The old firehouse cannot accommodate a gymnasium.  

The sale price was based on a recent appraisal of the property for $1.35 million. The land on which the firehouse is built was once owned by New York City and is near a stream that is part of the city's water supply. New York agreed to sell the parcel to the fire district in the 1930s on the condition that the property would revert back to it if the fire district ever wanted to get rid of it. That caveat was later changed to say that the fire district could sell the land, rather than have to give it back, as long as it paid the city $250,000. What is being negotiated now — and what would allow the fire district to sell to the town for only $1.1 million — is an understanding that the $250,000 fee would be waived if the land were acquired for municipal use.  

[Medic137 6]

The taxpayers in North White Plains don't know how lucky they are. Their FD has one of the best EMS first responses around. Makes a big difference when Valhalla VAC can only get out "Driver Only" and the Mt. Pleasant Medic is tied up at Cedarwood Hall.

They should have a decent facility to work out of.