Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have unanimously approved an expansion project for the fire substation of the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company, which would more than double the size of the structure at 249 Berkshire Road (Route 34).

George Benson, town director of planning, presented plans for the expansion project to P&Z members at an August 6 public hearing. Mr Benson termed the application “straightforward.”

No members of the public spoke at the hearing.

Following brief discussion, P&Z members approved the “site development plan” for the project.

The substation, which was built in the late 1960s on a 2.4-acre site in a R-2 (Residential) zone, is no longer large enough for the fire company’s needs, according to Sandy Hook Fire Chief Bill Halstead.

The fire company’s larger main fire station is at 18 Riverside Road. Sandy Hook is the only local fire company of five fire companies that operates out of two fire stations.

The fire company plans to expand the existing fire substation by 2,000 square feet, increasing the building’s size from 1,568 square feet to 3,568 square feet.

The fire substation is located on the north side of Berkshire Road, between Berkshire Road’s intersections with Nighthawk Lane and Checkerberry Lane.

Plans call for constructing a 2,000-square-foot two-bay addition to the rear of the existing building. The garage doors on the addition would face Nighthawk Lane. The building addition would measure 50 feet wide by 40 feet deep.

The fire company currently keeps Engine 442 at the substation. That fire truck, which is quite large for the space where it is now garaged, would remain at the substation, but would be housed in one of the two new larger garage bays.

The second new garage bay would be reserved for future expansion of the fire company’s fleet. There are no current plans for garaging another fire truck in the second new bay, according to Chief Halstead.

After the substation is expanded, space within the existing building there would be reconfigured to provide for a day room, office, showers, an additional rest room, and storage area. The property’s existing septic waste disposal system would be relocated.

The town’s capital improvement plan for the current fiscal year designates $375,000 in town funding for expanding the fire substation.