SARANAC LAKE – The chief of the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department says he’d prefer to have a new firehouse in the same location as the current one, rather than re-locate to the former state armory on Route 3.

Either way, however, Brendan Keough said he hopes the ongoing discussion about where the village should house its emergency services in the future spurs some action.

“Hopefully this will push this conversation another 10 yards down the field and get us that much closer to getting it done,” Keough said.

The New York Army National Guard moved out of the armory last week. For years, village officials have wanted it for use as a public safety building for the village police and fire departments.

That’s still a possibility, although Mayor Clyde Rabideau said last month that the building would have to undergo a costly expansion and renovation to house the two departments. In the meantime, village officials, and the town of Harrietstown, are also interested in using the 29-acre property for recreation.

Keough said the fire department was interested in exploring the armory as a possible future location, “but now it sounds more like the village is going in a different direction with the armory, in terms of more for recreational use versus public safety use.

“The armory was a good option, certainly an option that was worth exploring,” Keough said. “It wasn’t perhaps the most ideal location, but locations are few and far between in the village for that.”

The chief said he recently spoke with Rabideau, who asked him if the department had a preference of where it would rather be, in its current site or at the armory.

“I said I can’t speak for everybody, but I think if there was an option on the table to maintain our presence on (Broadway), obviously we’d prefer to be centrally located,” Keough said.

Keough says the current firehouse is outdated and too small to house all the department’s trucks and equipment. It has three bays that the chief said are in rough shape, especially the original one that dates to around 1916. The other two bays were added in the 1960s. Volunteers are currently seeking grant funds to re-seal the bays’ floors and replace the heating system in the building.

The department’s “vision” for the property, Keough said, is to keep the original bay, knock down the two newer ones, and have the village acquire neighboring properties to house a new firehouse or public safety building. Keough said the department is open to sharing space with the police department and/or the Saranac Lake Volunteer Rescue Squad, which is currently located in a building off Broadway near the firehouse.

“I’ve had discussions with (SLVRS President) Julie Harjung, informal discussions,” he said. “There is an opportunity for us, and it’s to the community’s benefit to keep the agencies in the same facility because we share the (village fire) drivers currently.”

Saranac Lake police Chief Charles Potthast Jr. said his department, located behind the former village offices at 3 Main St., also needs more space.

“I know the village board and the mayor and the village manger, they’re all aware of the concerns and they have been proactive in trying to address it,” Potthast said. “As far as the armory goes, I think it’s a viable option, but looking at the space the way it is now, they might have to do some renovations to accommodate both of us.”

When the village is ready, Keough said it and the fire department should have “a serious discussion” about the next steps.

“I think there’s a genuine intent on the village board’s part to do something. They recognize this is an issue, but they’ve been faced with tax cap things and all the infrastructure issues they’re trying to fix. The hard part is, the longer we put it off, the more it’s going to cost.”

The issue came up at last week’s village board meeting after Trustee Allie Pelletieri said he’d seen an email that discussed asking the fire department if it was interested in the armory or having the village set aside $1 million to fix the existing firehouse.

“My feeling is that’s a good thing to do, but there’s more to this than just a fire department,” Pelletieri said. “I don’t think we can just carve this out as what does the fire department want, and what does the police department want. We can ask them what they want, but we have to be the leaders to put this together so it’s financially solvable to the village taxpayers.”

“Asking the fire department if they want to be up there or stay down here, if the investment were equal, would be a good way for us to begin our analysis of the building,” Rabideau responded. “If we’ve got to put in a big investment, I think it was a respectful question to ask the fire department where they would like to be.”

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Armory issues

Whether the armory could even be used as a public safety building remains a question. State Sen. Betty Little said last month that the state Office of General Services could convey the property to a municipality for $1, but the possible legal uses would be limited. More than half of the property would have to be used for recreational opportunities and amenities, she said.

However, because roughly 70 percent of the land, including the building, is state-owned and outside the village line in the town of Harrietstown, Little said it could be considered Forest Preserve, which means it couldn’t be sold without an amendment to Article 14 of the state constitution, known as the “forever wild” clause.

The issue was still being researched then, and Little’s spokesman Dan Mac Entee said Tuesday there was nothing new to report.

“It is a complicated issue, given its location,” OGS spokeswoman Heather Groll wrote in an email Tuesday. “We are in talks with (the Division of Military and Naval Affairs), the senator, the village and the town on the best way to ensure this property is able to be used in a way to benefit the community. Transferring ownership is a big part of this discussion, and we have to find the best path forward.”