“Wow” was the first word out the mouth of a Bullville firefighter Tuesday night when he heard that voters said yes to a new $5.2 million firehouse. Just before the news got out, another firefighter said fingers were crossed that Bullville’s cramped firehouse, sections of which date to the early 1970s, would be replaced.

The final tally was 95-21 in favor of the project. While victories are never guaranteed, a sampling of people filing into the station shortly after the polls opened at 6 p.m. showed solid support for the project. It’s been a “good idea for years,” said one man, a charter member and former chief of the fire company who is no longer actively involved. Another voter who said he had no connection to the company called it “a really good idea.”

The new firehouse will be built by the Bullville Fire District, which has the power to raise money through taxes. It also owns the fire trucks and all the other firefighting equipment. The Bullville Volunteer Fire Company, whose members fight the fires, built the original firehouse on Route 17K and owns the land it sits on. Under the new arrangement, the company will lease the property to the district for 50 years at $10,000 a year, a bargain according to Bruce Guttenplan, chairman of the board of fire commissioners of the fire district. One reason the lease is a bargain, he said, is because it doesn’t include a fraction of the property that sports a cell tower, a significant source of income for the company.

Commissioner Bruce Schwope, who presented the district’s plans to the town planning board, said the new firehouse will be built in two stages on the site of the current firehouse and would be a copy of the one built for the Slate Hill Fire District. That firehouse has five bays and covers 12,800 square feet, more than double the Bullville firehouse’s 6,100 square feet. Schwope said that the district would issue bonds not to exceed $4.5 million and put $700,000 from a capital reserve fund toward the firehouse. Tuesday night, Schwope said that property owners would see a tax increase of about $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed valuation over the 25-year life of the bonds. Property owners in the Bullville Fire District, which covers some twelve-and-a-half square miles at the southern end of town and is home to 2,950 people, now pay $4.10 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

Schwope was to be back before the planning board Wednesday night for a continuation of the public hearing on the project. Since his last appearance, the Crawford Zoning Board of Appeals granted the district an extension of a variance allowing the firehouse to be built just 100 feet from the centerline of Route 17K. Town code normally requires a setback of at least 150 feet. Although the fire company owns between eight and nine acres, the rear of the property is designated wetlands, which rules out positioning the firehouse deeper on the property.

The volunteer company went into service in May 1975 and has about 40 members, two dozen of whom are active, including Schwope who said he is a founding member. The company answers 150 calls in a typical year, he said.

Reflecting on the outcome of the vote, Guttenplan said, “We are all very happy that the residents of the district support the construction of the new firehouse.”

Pine Bush Fire District To Expand

While voters were lining up in Bullville, 10 miles away, Crawford’s other fire district was knee deep into a plan to absorb a neighboring fire protection district. Pine Bush Fire District commissioners were at their firehouse on Route 52. Their attorney was there. The Crawford supervisor and three other town board members were there. The Shawangunk supervisor and fellow board member showed up. The Shawangunk town attorney was there. The two town clerks were present. The public, however, was mostly missing from the public hearing on the proposed consolidation of the Pine Bush Fire District and the New Prospect Fire Protection District. A couple of dozen chairs set aside for residents of the districts remained mostly empty.

Shawangunk Supervisor John Valk, Jr., summarized the situation. The New Prospect district has been around since 1957, he said. It never had its own fire company. Pine Bush firefighters have always answered the bell for New Prospect. Shawangunk taxes the New Prospect residents — there are about 316 properties in the district — and gives the money to the Pine Bush district under a contract worked out each year. This year that amounts to about $115,000. The problem, Valk said, is that the people in New Prospect don’t have a say in the operation of the Pine Bush district. They can’t vote for the commissioners who, among other duties, set the district budget, nor can a resident of New Prospect even run for commissioner. It’s time the people had representation, Valk said.

Under an agreement worked out between Crawford and Shawangunk, Shawangunk will dissolve the New Prospect Fire Protection District. The rights, duties, and obligations of the Pine Bush Fire District will remain the same except that it will pick up the properties now in New Prospect. The consolidated district will still have five commissioners, each with staggered five-year terms. But after January 1, residents of the old New Prospect district will be able to run for and vote for commissioners. All residents will be taxed by the Pine Bush district, whether they live in Crawford or Shawangunk, taking into consideration equalization rates. Shawangunk attorney Richard Hoyt said the tax levy isn’t likely to change. He said the State of New York should be happy because the agreement gets rid of one layer of government.

At the start of the hearing, Scott A. Dow, the Pine Bush Fire District attorney, said the town boards could adopt, amend, or reject the agreement at hand, which he described as solid. Given that a single question came from a member of the public not affiliated with the boards or commissioners, there wasn’t anything new to consider. The one questioner asked for a clarification on the makeup of the board of commissioners.

Commissioner John Tarolli said that from the district’s point of view, the new arrangement is easier. “We won’t have to negotiate with Shawangunk” each year, he said. The New Prospect people will be represented directly, he said.

Valk said that the Shawangunk board will vote on the agreement at its August meeting. Crawford is likely to do the same. Commissioner Bob Moorhead said that to be on the safe side the Pine Bush board of commissioners would also vote on the agreement, although legally it’s not clear that is necessary.