SARANAC LAKE — The Adirondack Park Agency issued a subdivision permit on Oct. 19, a decision that will allow the village of Saranac Lake to move forward with its purchase of a Petrova Avenue property where it hopes to build a new public safety complex.

The 21.363-acre parcel of land is currently owned by Citizen Advocates, which operates an outpatient mental health and addiction clinic on the land. That land will be split into two parcels. The group will retain a 6.274-acre parcel to continue its services, while the other 15.089-acre parcel containing the former St. Pius X High School will be sold to the village. The village plans to build a public safety complex on the land. That would house the village Police Department, Saranac Lake Volunteer Rescue Squad and the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department.

Citizen Advocates also owned and operated the Hhott House Greenhouse, which is included in the village’s portion of the subdivision. Todd Hoffnagle, the new owner of the greenhouse — which is now named SL Hot House Garden Center — signed an eight-month lease with the village in February to keep the business open. Hoffnagle could not be reached by deadline Friday. The status of the lease was not clear Friday.

It was revealed in early February that the village was looking to purchase the property. In late February, the village board voted to approve the purchase of the subdivided 15-acre parcel for $350,000. The village has been under contract with Citizen Advocates since then, waiting for the subdivision to be approved.

“The village is under contract for the property,” Saranac Lake Mayor Jimmy Williams said. “A bunch of the process was completed back in February, I believe. This was the last piece that everyone was waiting on to file that subdivision paperwork with the county.”

The property has not been closed on. Williams said that he has no timeline for the closing, as he originally hoped that it would have happened in February or March — almost eight months ago.

“I’m not making any guesses,” he said.

The APA permit issued this month does not include any permissions for new land use or development. It only approves the subdivision of the property into the two parcels.

The future relocation of the village Police Department has bearing on the APA’s future plans, too — in April, the APA said that it was considering moving its headquarters from Ray Brook to the Paul Smith’s Electric Light and Power and Railroad Company building at 1-3 Main St. in Saranac Lake, which currently houses village police and some county offices. If all emergency services in the village relocated to the proposed new complex, the building on Main Street would be freed up for the APA’s proposed new headquarters.

The APA’s plans for its potential new headquarters include constructing a second building behind 1 Main St. and creating a 72-space parking lot. The village has voiced support for the move, as well as the towns of North Elba and Harrietstown. However, the proposed move has been controversial, with Saranac Lake citizens signaling both support and opposition.

Some residents have raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest as the APA reviews the village’s Petrova Avenue plans while planning to move onto a different village property, the availability of which hinges upon the relocation of the police department. Some residents have also questioned whether the Power and Light building could be turned into housing and whether a public safety complex could be built behind the current firehouse on Broadway, on a property purchased by the village.

The village commissioned a feasibility study years ago for the Broadway property that found it was too small. Another study was released on Oct. 11 that found that there were varying degrees of problems with all current emergency services facilities in the village that would require renovations or new facilities. The study said that the rescue squad’s current ambulance bays are “too narrow to appropriately accommodate the vehicles.” It also said that staff sleeping quarters are “old and deteriorating” and the storage and training rooms are “inadequate.”

The study said that the police department is “critically undersized to serve the public in a professional manner.” According to the study, there are no private interview rooms, the chief must share an office with the shift sergeants, officers share a locker area and the showers frequently experience plumbing issues. There is also no climate-controlled evidence storage area; most evidence is stored off-site.

The fire station has the least serious problems of the three facilities, according to the report, but still lacks modernized facilities and features. The report said that its “life expectancy can be extended 25 to 50 years” after “substantial renovation.” Decontamination and PPE recommendations have changed since the firehouse was last renovated, and its facilities are not in line with current recommendations. The bays also do not have enough room to allow staff to clean and maintain the tops of trucks or lift the cabs for maintenance, which the report said is a “standard feature in stations design today.” The bays also do not have vehicle exhaust systems.

The report explored the costs of building three new facilities separately, building a brand-new combined emergency services facility and renovating the former St. Pius X High School into a combined emergency services facility. The cost of building all facilities separately came out to $43,053,690 — $20,560,799 for the firehouse, $12,172,331 for the rescue squad and $10,320,560 for the police department. The cost of a new combined facility came to $40,255,710 and the cost of renovating St. Pius X into a combined facility came to $27,523,069. The report recommended the renovation as the most effective use of space and money.