Letters

The Southampton Fire District commissioners purchased 319 Upper Seven Ponds Road to build a 35-foot-high fire “station” with 40 parking spots in our residential zoned neighborhood, without any outreach to the community, which vehemently opposes the project.

The Southampton Fire District, created in 2003, lacks any buildings, equipment or firefighters, which it subcontracts from the Southampton Village Fire Department. But it has access to a multimillion-dollar tax budget over which the commissioners have broad discretion.

The commissioners have not disclosed any information regarding the cost to build and maintain the multimillion-dollar project, how it will be financed, or compliance with required environmental impact studies. Nor have they disclosed key statistical data to justify the need for the fire station, specifically: response time to each company’s alarm box assignments; monthly number of fires, medical emergencies and false alarms; and number of firefighters manning the existing firehouses and fire stations, among others.

Building a new fire station just 1.4 miles from the brand new, state-of-the-art Hampton Road firehouse is a waste of taxpayer dollars. It will destroy our residential neighborhood and drain other firehouses of an already scarce resource — trained firefighters. Our tax dollars should be spent to train new firefighters and add fire hydrants where needed.

The proposed site, located on the extreme eastern boundary of the Southampton Fire District, will lengthen response times, a critical factor in determining firehouse locations. Only four of approximately 140 members of the companies servicing Southampton live close to the proposed Water Mill site. Most firefighters respond directly to the site of the emergency, not to the fire station.

The environmental impact also would be disastrous. The Upper Seven Ponds Road parcel is located in close proximity to wetlands and several ponds that drain into Mecox Bay. Old Mill Pond Road and surrounding streets frequently flood during heavy rainstorms, making them impassible.

The recent increase in our town’s population does not in itself justify building a new fire station. Most homes are now equipped with high-tech fire prevention technologies, including fire alarms, heat sensors, sprinklers and other code-compliant devices. Municipalities with high-density, growing populations, including New York City, have been shutting down firehouses based on budgetary constraints and studies showing that response times would not be significantly delayed by such closures.

No statistical data exists to support the commissioners’ argument that a new fire station is needed. The commissioners have not explained why this project is appropriate or necessary given budgetary restraints and other priorities.

If a new fire station is truly needed, it should be on the North Sea property owned by the Southampton Fire District, for which permits have already been issued.

Silvia Bolatti

Water Mill