The disagreement between the village of Manlius and the town of Manlius over which municipality should be the lead agency to create the proposed new fire station at the corner of Enders Road and Route 92 last week received some direction from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which issued an opinion in favor of the village.

“Based on my finding that the village has the broadest governmental powers to investigate the impacts of the proposed action by virtue of its control over all aspects of design, construction and operation of the proposed fire station,” the village was designated to serve as lead agency on the fire station project, DEC Commissioner Joseph Martens wrote in his official opinion dated Oct. 14 and delivered to both the village and town of Manlius governments last Friday.

Both town and village officials have been waiting for the DEC decision to come down since the village asked the state environmental agency to make a ruling on the issue in early August. The fire station project, which has been in the works for years but has been stalled throughout 2014 as the two municipalities argued, could not move forward until a municipal agency was declared to be the “lead agency” — or in charge — in terms of the state-mandated environmental impact review process of the project (State Environmental Quality Review Act, or SEQR).

“I’m relieved that a decision was finally made so that we know now that we can move forward, the direction we have to move forward to start getting the project back underway,” said Manlius Mayor Paul Whorrall. “We will work closely with the town and we will do what we have to do that’s required of us with the SEQR review. We’re not going to exclude the town in letting them know what we’re going to do.”

Manlius Town Supervisor Ed Theobald, on the other hand, said the town board was “somewhat surprised” and “disappointed” that the DEC determined the village should have lead agency status “over property that is outside the village. As the project proposed would serve town and village residents alike and provide a very important public service that the village has clearly determined is needed, the issue is the location and the potential adverse effects on traffic, neighborhood, nearby community character and similar effects addressed by zoning and environmental review laws and regulations.”

The village has spent nearly seven years — and more than $440,000 — working to improve the fire station situation by building one new, state-of-the art station to replace the two outdated stations currently in use. The new station would be an approximately 20,000 square feet building on a 4.1 acre parcel on land to be purchased by the village — although the land is outside the village limits and in the town. The new station would become the hub for all Manlius fire personnel.

The proposal for a single, consolidated station was announced last September, but from January to June this year discussions between village and town officials had stalled. The village board then in June voted unanimously to declare its “municipal sovereignty” from the town and to seek immunity from town regulations as they worked to bring the fire station project to fruition.

The town and village have been at odds over the project ever since.

In his Oct. 14 designation, Martens wrote that he based his lead agency decision on three criteria: the anticipated impacts of the project, which agency had the broadest governmental powers to investigate the impacts of the proposed project and which agency had the greatest capability to provide the most thorough environmental assessment of the proposed project.

Martens wrote that the first and third criteria apply equally to both village and town, but the second criteria — which agency has the broadest governmental powers to investigate the impacts of the proposed project — Martens found that the village had the broadest authority.

“The village has the greatest ability to change, add and even delete project elements to avoid or reduce such impacts through its control of location, design and finance,” Martens wrote. “The village is in the best position not merely to identify but also to ensure implementation of any measures necessary to avoid or minimize potential impacts from the construction of the proposed fire station as they may be revealed during the environmental review. The village has direct authority over site selection, construction and administration of the proposed facility.”

While Martens clarified one aspect of the fire station argument, he refused to clarify a second one — which municipality has zoning jurisdiction over the land. Martens stated that the land for the proposed fire station may need a zone change in order to allow its use for the fire station. While he acknowledged that the town claims jurisdictional authority and the village claims governmental immunity from zoning, he stated that he accepted both claims as legitimate “for purposes of resolving this dispute.”

For now, the village board will immediately start to move forward on the project, Whorrall said, starting with a fire station committee meeting on Tuesday night, Oct. 21, which occurred after press time, and consultation with the village attorney.

As for the village and town working together to bring the fire station to fruition, Whorrall said, “We’re willing to work with them if they’re willing to work with us. But if they do something I feel is not in the best interests of the people in this community for the best fire service, then I will make other responses.”

Theobald offered similar sentiments.

“We will continue to try and resolve this amicably with the village, which, by the way, we were working on meeting with to have further discussions with before receiving any word back from the DEC,” Theobald said. “The town board had reserved decision on the jurisdictional issue of application of the town zoning, but now is somewhat ‘boxed in’ and we likely have to proceed by asserting our own jurisdiction. If we do not take these steps we would be disregarding our responsibilities as representatives to our town residents.”

Jason Emerson is editor of the Eagle Bulletin. He can be reached at [email protected].