On Tuesday, Oct. 10, the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department hosted a vote on the issuance of serial bonds not exceeding $10 million to proceed with constructing an ambulance station on Cumberland Avenue in the Village of Lake Success. The bond vote passed 490-410. “We would like to thank all community members who took the time to vote on this plan and for their approval,” said the Board of Fire Commissioners. “We look forward to continuing to be good partners to our community and will keep residents updated throughout the planning and construction process.”
In May of this year, the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department released a proposal for Company #3 to get its own designated ambulance unit. Company #3 of the fire department is located on Prospect Street in Great Neck, and the firehouse houses the Manhasset-Lakeville Ambulance Unit and all of its apparatus. The housing partnership was supposed to be temporary, and as the community has grown, so has the fire district’s services and equipment fleet.
In an interview from June with EMS captain and paramedic Lee Genser, he said, “EMS has a lot of unique needs that they’re not able to be put into that building. The building isn’t large enough to accommodate the two memberships.”’
Considering the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department is one of the largest in Nassau County, the fire department felt that adding a new ambulance unit would benefit the department and make it even more efficient.
When the proposal was released, residents near the proposed parcel raised concerns about traffic and safety.
In a letter to the Great Neck Record, a group of concerned citizens and taxpayers in Great Neck Manor and beyond shared that they “firmly believe that this development would significantly and adversely impact our quality of life, compromise the safety of our children, exacerbate traffic issues and contribute to congestion in the area.”
In addition to concerns about construction disrupting the neighborhood, the letter focused on the impact of ambulance station-related traffic. “The narrow section of the roads leading to the proposed project site would make it difficult for emergency vehicles, additional firefighters, and accompanying equipment to maneuver effectively. The increased traffic resulting from the ambulance unit’s operations would introduce additional risks, making it unsafe for children to move freely within their own neighborhood.”
The concerned residents repeatedly conveyed these concerns to the fire department, and in response, the original vote was postponed to October for a traffic study to be completed. The study was conducted by Cameron Engineering and completed in early September.
According to a press release from the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department, “The traffic impact study confirmed the “zero impact to local traffic” should the unit be relocated to the Cumberland Avenue site, and that the relocation will not create off-site traffic, parking, or safety concerns.”
(Graphic from the Manhasset Lakeville Water District)
Fire Commissioner Steven Flynn said, “The study demonstrated the lack of impact the new station will have on local traffic. Based on the study’s findings, we firmly believe that the property on Cumberland Avenue is the ideal location for the new station. Not only is it central to our community, but it provides enough space for us to build an adequately sized station to meet the current and future needs of our ambulance unit.”
Now that the bond vote has passed, the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire District Board of Commissioners shared that the next steps will be “formulating a timetable with the bond council, general counsel and engineers.”
According to the proposal presentation from the Manhasset-Lakeville Water and Fire District, after the bond vote, the process will begin with construction documents, permitting, bidding and negotiations, choosing the contractor and building construction. Overall, the project can take about two years. These numbers are based on an earlier bond vote, so they are subject to change.
After the traffic study was released in September, Fire Commissioner Mark Sauvigne shared that, “Once the building is completed, as past experience has proven, we believe our ongoing partnership between the Nassau County Police Department, Ambulance Unit, and Lake Success Police Department will provide additional resources for the area. This presence should help deter crime and traffic infractions and increase ambulance response time.”
Commissioner Sauvigne shared that the new building will help recruit and retain new and existing volunteers. “It will create a safer environment inside and outside the building. With more volunteers present at the site, we expect response time to be quicker,” he said. “The MLFD commissioners are elected to represent almost 45K residents. We consulted with experts and researched over a dozen locations over numerous years before we decided that this location was the best option for the district. This decision was not taken lightly.”
The traffic study report can be viewed at https://www.mlfd.com
