Voters Approve New Castle Fire District Land Purchase Referendum
New Castle Fire District No. 1 voters comfortably approved a $2.6 million referendum Tuesday night that will enable the district to buy the adjacent property and leave open the chance it can one day expand the King Street firehouse.
Nearly a half-hour after the polls closed at 9 p.m., the board of fire commissioners announced the proposition passed 198-111.
The results of the vote will allow the fire district to purchase the Chappaqua Animal Hospital property, pay for asbestos abatement before demolishing the building and remove contaminated soil.
It was the second time in less than four months the referendum was before the voters. In October, it failed by a little more than 100 votes the same night as the controversial $12.6 million firehouse expansion proposition was badly defeated. Within weeks following the double defeat, the previous board announced it would put the land acquisition proposition before the voters again.
Two weeks ago, John Buckley, chairman of the board of commissioners, said that if the re-vote on the property purchase failed the land would be sold to a private concern that would likely develop the property blocking the fire district from ever expanding the current facility.
Check back for updates in next week’s print edition of The Examiner.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/