About 40 residents gathered at Eagle Hill Middle School for the first of three informational meetings on the proposed construction of a new fire station for the village of Manlius Fire Department, which comes with a bond of $10.8 million.

The meeting was held to educate residents who live in the Manlius Fire Department district about why the department is in need of a new fire station, which is planned to be on the corner of Route 92 and Enders Road in the town of Manlius.

David Pacheo, from Pacheo & Ross Architects, spoke at the meeting to give an overview of why the fire station project was needed to replace the current two fire stations, which are located on Pompey Hill Road and Stickely Drive. Pacheco said his firm specializes in planning emergency response buildings.

Some of the main reasons for the project is that the current two stations are too small, inefficient and don’t meet certain health and safety standards. Regulations for fire stations require three feet of clearance for vehicle bay areas, which the current stations do not meet, said Pacheo, and there are unsafe working conditions in the current stations with inadequate space to store modern fire apparatus.

In terms of health and safety standards, the current stations do not provide adequate place for biohazard disposal, storage for EMS items and secure areas to file personal HIPPA protected information.

In addition, the current stations do not meet the American Disabilities Act that states all public building should be accessible to people with disabilities.

An increase in calls over the years is another factor in the reason for the proposed station. According to Pacheo, in 1967, when the Stickely Drive station was built, there were 210 calls, but in 2014, there were nearly 2,500 calls the Manlius Fire Department went on.

“Everybody thinks of fire suppression as our main purpose, if you have a fire, you’re going to call the fire department. People don’t often think about all of the other things we do,” Manlius Fire Chief John Buskey said. “If you call 911, and it isn’t a police matter, you’re going to get someone from the fire department either for medical or fire emergencies.”

The new fire station would also be located in the center of the fire district, so response times would be shortened, said Pacheo.

Two additional informational meetings have been scheduled:

✓7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb, 26 at Manlius Fire Station No. 1, Stickely Drive, Manlius.

✓9 a.m. on Saturday, March 7 at Manlius Village Centre, 1 Arkie Albanese Ave., Manlius.

Manlius village trustees voted on Jan. 27 to approve a $10.8 million bond to cover the costs associated with the proposed new fire station project, including purchasing the land and construction of the facilities. The bond is contingent on a referendum vote by Manlius village residents. The tax increase of this bond is between $48 per $100,000 assessed home value at the more expensive end to $32 per $100,000 assessed home value, according to town clerk Martha Dygert.

The Manlius fire district covers all of the village of Manlius and parts of the town of Manlius and the town of Pompey. By law, only village of Manlius residents will be able to vote on the bond referendum, but the tax increase would affect all of those in the Manlius fire district.

The bond referendum will be held 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18 at the Village Centre, 1 Arkie Albanese Ave., Manlius.

Hayleigh Gowans is a reporter for the Eagle Bulletin. She can be reached at [email protected].