Dodgingtown Firehouse Expansion Planned 

By Andrew Gorosko

The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) has granted the Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company two zoning variances for the organization’s plans to expand its 55 Dodgingtown Road (Route 302) firehouse to provide space for a new town-owned fire pumper truck to be garaged there.

The ZBA unanimously granted the zoning variances to the fire company to allow it to construct a building addition closer to a zoning setback line than would normally be allowed, and also to construct a parking lot within a zoning setback area. The firehouse is located on the northern corner of Dodgingtown Road and Jacklin Road.

The 1.67-acre site is within a B-1 (Business) zone. The existing firehouse holds 3,406 square feet of enclosed space, according to town assessment records.

The firehouse expansion would create sufficient garage space for the planned fire truck, which is larger than the fire truck that it would replace. The two-level building expansion would be constructed on the southwestern side of the firehouse, or the rear of the building when viewed from Dodgingtown Road.

The building expansion would have dimensions of approximately 16 feet by 50 feet, reflecting an 800-square-foot footprint for the project.

The project would add a fourth garage bay to the firehouse, which now contains three garage bays. The expanded space would allow all fire company vehicles to be garaged. The fire company currently operates three fire trucks and one fire command car.

In a letter to the ZBA, Dodgingtown fire officials explain that the fire company plans to replace a 20-year-old fire truck with a new fire pumper truck with funds included in the town’s upcoming 2009-10 budget. 

The firehouse expansion project would involve adding enclosed space to the structure, as well as reconstructing a section of the existing building, according to the fire company.

There was no public comment at the ZBA public hearing conducted on the fire company’s application for two zoning variances.