It was a close call, but voters in the North West Fire District have turned down the NWFD’s proposition to build a new fire station on Smokey Hollow Road and add on to Station No. 1 on Crego Road.

More than 600 district residents voted in the Sept. 22 referendum, approving Proposition I by only 20 votes and defeating Proposition II by 45 votes.

The Onondaga County Board of Elections examined 29 affidavit ballots Sept. 23 and deemed 20 of them invalid, as those voters were not registered in the NWFD. The board of elections reported the final numbers:

• Proposition I: 326 yes, 306 no

• Proposition II: 298 yes, 343 no

Proposition I sought authorization for the NWFD to purchase Baldwinsville Station 1 (located at 7911 Crego Road) and Baldwinsville Station 2 (7461 State Fair Blvd.) from the Baldwinsville Volunteer Fire Company for $2,065,407.

Proposition II sought authorization for the district to build the Smokey Hollow Road station, which would replace Baldwinsville Station No. 3 on Elizabeth Street. Proposition II also provides for an addition to Station No. 1. The total cost of both construction of the new station and the addition was not to exceed $4,486,824.

Fire Commissioner Jack Kline said the district is still pursuing a loan through the United States Department of Agriculture and intends to purchase Station No. 1 and Station No. 2 from the BVFC.

“We’re going to buy the properties,” Kline said. “Once the USDA loan gets along and we own the two buildings, we’ll re-evaluate from there.”

While waiting for the final count from the board of elections Sept. 23, Kline had told the Messenger that he thought the district’s “biggest downfall” was the spreading of misinformation about the propositions on Facebook.

“However it turns out, we’re going to regroup and figure out what went wrong, what happened,” Kline said.